Transportation board heads to D5 for district tour and May business meeting

The Idaho Transportation Board will travel to southeast Idaho May 18-19 for a tour of the transportation department’s District 5 on Wednesday and a business meeting on Thursday at Idaho State University’s Pond Student Union.

Some of the tour plans include visiting the Dingle Pond project and the Bear Lake County Airport, and participating in a luncheon meeting with the mayor of Preston and the Franklin County commissioners.

Idaho Airport Aid Program
At the business meeting on the Idaho State University campus on May 19, staff will present the FY17 Idaho Airport Aid Program (IAAP) to the board for approval.

The IAAP provides state funding to public airports; although not to the commercial airports. This year, $550,000 is available. Because of the limited funds, a Prioritization and Allocation Methodology is used to select projects. The Aeronautics Advisory Board approved the program last month. Some of the recommended projects are pavement maintenance at Burley, runway and taxiway apron rehabilitation at Challis, land acquisition and fencing at Driggs, and snow removal equipment at McCall.

FY17-20 strategic plan
Idaho Code requires all state agencies to submit a strategic plan by July 1 every year.  The document is to include the department’s vision or mission statement, goals, objectives, performance measures and key external factors.

The external factors focus on revenue. A new federal surface transportation act was signed into law late last year. It expires in 2020, enabling the department to establish a five-year plan based on stable funding.  It also mentions the revenue increase the legislature approved in 2015. Although the additional funding was greatly appreciated, it only achieves about a third of the needs identified in the 2011 task force report on transportation funding.

Other factors include Idaho’s continuing population growth, resulting in more demands on the transportation system, and relatively low gas prices that influence vehicle travel.

Out-of-state travel
The board will also be asked to approve the department’s FY17 out-of-state travel budget.

The total request of $368,280 is almost $3,000 more than the FY16 request. About 16 percent of the trip costs are expected to be federally funded. Highways requested a budget of $181,400, followed by Administration’s request of $117,750, Motor Vehicle’s for $53,330, and Aeronautics’ for $17,800.

Published 05-13-16