Untitled Document

Tree removal at HQ part of new 30th Street corridor project

The Ada County Highway District recently began work on a joint development project with the city of Boise that will reshape a portion of ITD’s Headquarters campus.

Removal of trees next to Rose Street, near ITD’s East Annex, is part of a widening project for the new corridor. ACHD’s right-of-way acquisition also will include part of the “bullpen” parking area at Headquarters across from Icon Credit Union. ITD ceded a strip about 50 feet wide along the west side of Rose Street to ACHD for the project.

Cost of the project is estimated to be $9.7 million, about half of which is for construction.

The 30th Street Extension project will provide a new route that includes two lanes of travel in both directions, a center turn lane/median, and bicycle/pedestrian lanes. It also will feature a roundabout at 30th Street and Stewart Avenue

Work is taking place in earnest at the site of a vacant gravel pit between the ends of W. Hester Street and W. Stewart Avenue. The new route, which will be known as Whitewater Park Boulevard, extends from Fairview along 30th Street, north on Rose to a new traffic signal on State Street.

ITD employees who access the Headquarters campus by Jordan Street might notice some traffic impact during work on the Rose Street segment. Eventually, it will improve access to the campus for commuters who now use 27th and Jordan streets.

The route will provide access to a whitewater park on the river and the proposed Esther Simplot Park. Entrance to the new park will be from the roundabout.

It will open the north side of the river between Fairview and State streets to other potential development as part of an urban renewal project. Planning for that development began in effort.

“As part of ACHD’s original plan for 30th Street, the shift of traffic volume would allow 27th Street to be converted from a four-lane road with no bike lanes to a three-lane facility with cycling amenities,” according to project overview.

ACHD and the city of Boise established a cost-sharing agreement for the 30th Street amenities, with the city sharing costs for items not directly related to the “essential transportation function” of the road. “The city’s land-use vision, which will eventually be incorporated into the Boise Comprehensive Plan, will play out over a much longer period, moving ahead as properties are developed or redeveloped in the future.”

For information about the project, please refer to the ACHD project website.

Also see project FAQs.