Untitled Document

Board will tour District 5 during May 21-22 meeting

The transportation board will tour District 5 and conduct its monthly business meeting in Pocatello May 21-22. The board’s tour on Wednesday includes a number of activities, featuring meetings with local officials in Shelley and American Falls, and visits to the Blackfoot and Pocatello airports.

While at the Pocatello Regional Airport, board members will tour Petersen Inc.’s fabrication facility. A tour of the $1.5 billion fertilizer plant, Magnida, under construction in Power County, also is on the agenda.

Alternative Contracting
An update on the alternative-contracting program will be provided to the board at its meeting at Idaho State University on Thursday.

Districts are to nominate projects for either the design-build or construction manager/general contractor alternative-delivery method as part of the Transportation Investment Program update.

Staff will recommend removing two current projects from the alternative delivery portfolio: the U.S. 20 Commercial Weight and Safety Compliance Station Phase 3 project and the Idaho 32, Badger Creek Bridge project. Both of these District 6 projects would be constructed via the traditional method.

Three new projects are being proposed for either the design-build or construction manager/general contractor method. These projects are the Idaho 45, Snake River Bridge, Walter’s Ferry project and U.S. 95, Milepost 122-139 Bridge Replacements project, both in District 3, and District 2’s U.S. 12, Fish Creek Bridge project. Some of the reasons to use alternative contracting for these projects include the opportunity for accelerating bridge construction, minimizing impacts to the public, the potential for cost savings, and minimizing impacts to natural resources.

Delegation: Interstate 11 Corridor
An effort is underway to connect Phoenix, Ariz., and Las Vegas, Nev., using a new interstate, I-11. Nevada leaders are now exploring continuing that I-11 corridor north to Canada. Several proposed routes are being considered.

A delegation from White Pine County, Nev., will present the U.S. 93 alternative, which would terminate on Interstate 84 just north of Twin Falls. The route encompasses 535 miles of roadway that would need to be addressed, and 41 obstacles, such as bridges, railroad/highway crossings, and narrow right-of-ways through townships. Some of the benefits of this corridor include it being the shortest of three routes under study, it has the least expensive construction costs per mile, and it would provide two access points into Canada: I-84 east to Interstate 15 or I-84 west to Interstate 5.

Positive Community Norms
The Positive Community Norms is a pilot project in three Idaho communities focusing on traffic-safety culture. It is an effort to end impaired driving by fostering bystander engagement.

Staff will provide an update on efforts underway in Blackfoot, one of the pilot communities. Messages have been developed specifically for this community. For example, 94 percent of adults in Blackfoot strongly agree drinking and driving is wrong and 92 percent reported not driving within two hours of drinking in the past 60 days.

The project encourages citizens to speak up to end drinking and driving. Some of these actions could be to report drivers who have been drinking to 911, speak up if you come into contact with someone who has been drinking and tell them to either stay where they are or get a ride with someone else, and to establish clear rules about never drinking and driving in families and workplaces.

The message to everyone is that it is time for all of us to speak up and end impaired driving in our communities.