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Board to conclude district visits with trip to Pocatello

The Idaho Transportation Board will wrap up its annual district tours Wednesday and Thursday with a trip to the Pocatello area and District 5. The focus will be on the U.S. 30 GARVEE corridor. Those projects are in the final stages of completion.

Board members will meet with Lava Hot Springs officials and business representatives for a Wednesday lunch and discussion of economic vitality and the important role transportation plays in the economy. The board will travel to Preston where it will join the Aeronautics Advisory Board for a tour of the Preston Airport before returning to Pocatello.

Board discussion items

Coordination with Traveler Services System Advisory Council
ITD converted its phone-based road report system to an integrated Traveler Services System in 2005. The new system uses a single point of data entry to feed both a 511 phone system and a travel information web site.

The board created an advisory council to help guide development of the system. For the first few years, the system expanded considerably and numerous system enhancements were considered for funding each year. It was important to get input from the interested partners represented on the council to help ITD make decisions about desirable options for the future.

The system is fully functional now and is basically in a maintenance mode. There is little funding available for system upgrades or enhancements. As a result, staff members believe the Traveler Services Advisory Council is no longer needed. It will recommend board repeal of Board Policy B-01-18, Coordination with Traveler Services System Advisory Council.

Request for design-build project
A recent change to Idaho Code allows the board to authorize the use of the design-build method option for awarding contracts.

ITD staff has been working with Ada County Highway District on improvements to the Idaho 44 and North Linder Road intersection, located near Eagle High School. The project is considered a high priority. The department’s share of the estimated $6 million project is $4 million. The project is scheduled for FY12.

Staff members will provide an update on implementing the design-build process. It will also ask the board to approve the Idaho 44/Linder Road intersection project for the design-build contracting method.

Financial statement
Financial representatives will summarize the department’s financial status through the first two months of fiscal year 2012. Miscellaneous state-funded revenue is .5 percent ahead of projects; however, revenue from the Highway Distribution Account is almost $800,000 below the projected amount.

Revenue from aviation fuels is 51 percent less than projected. In April (FY11), a large jet fuel distributor sent a report that grossly overpaid the jet fuel tax for that month. In FY12 there was a subsequent refund of the overpayment by the Tax Commission to the distributor. The overpayment that occurred in FY11 was included in the FY12 forecast calculation. The aviation fuel tax forecast will be reduced by $200,000 for this fiscal year and subsequent years.