Transportation board holds meeting in District 6
When the Board met in Rigby on July 10, it heard about various activities and accomplishments in the region.
The Salmon maintenance crew is now making its salt brine mixture instead of hauling it from District 5, improving efficiency and reducing costs. Staff is working closer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to improve winter maintenance efforts. Better communication is improving both agencies’ performance. The number of vehicles sliding off the road decreased.
To address mobility, District 6 is shortening construction periods. It also utilized rolling lane closures on an I-15 construction project to reduce impacts to the traveling public. A work zone mobility index is being developed to quantify the effectiveness of traffic control plans and reduce impacts to motorists. Some of the components are shorter work zones, not decreasing speed limits significantly, keeping travel lanes open, and shorter work windows.
Public Transportation Update
The Board heard about transit services in the District. Efforts to provide service to the Thompson Creek Mine in Custer County have been successful. Although the number of employees riding the bus from Challis decreased because of layoffs, the percentage of employees using the bus increased. The City of Driggs is piloting a program to provide service to the ski resort. The intent is to address parking issues and help the economy.
Commercial Driver License (CDL) Information System Modernization Project
The Commercial Driver License Information System modernization project is underway to comply with national standards for data collection and state-to-state transmission of data. The intent is to ensure that each commercial driver has only one driver’s license and one complete driver record. The project is mainly funded with a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration grant. Idaho’s compliance with the regulations is needed to preserve federal highway funding and retain CDL program certification.
The project affects approximately 85,000 Idaho CDL holders. Extensive outreach is being conducted to inform impacted parties, including the medical community, as medical certifications are involved.
Board Tour
For its tour of District 6 on July 11, the Board visited the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Research and Education Campus in Idaho Falls. It heard about INL’s mission and activities. Its focus is research, development, and education. Some of its programs include research on biomass, alternative fuels, batteries, and hybrid and electric vehicles.
The Board traveled US-20 west to the INL desert site. It visited the Advanced Test Reactor Laboratory where they research and develop nuclear reactor technologies and the facility where they test and certify space batteries for NASA. The battery currently in the Mars rover Curiosity was tested at the site.
Published 7-19-13