M

June 25, 2010

ITD Director Brian Ness met with District 5 employees this week to learn more about the district, its unique challenges, its projects and its people. His visit is part of a personal commitment to meet ITD employees and talk about their jobs and needs. He had an opportunity, above, to visit with maintenance workers at the American Falls shed.

Board
Collecting uncollected fuels taxes returning good dividends
ITD committed resources 12 years ago to assist the Idaho Tax Commission in the collection of unreported fuels taxes, with the assurance that an investment of one-quarter percent of the Surface Transportation Program (STP) would generate a three-fold return. The use of approximately $780,000 in STP funds has far exceeded original projections, according to a report given to the Idaho Transportation Board at its June business meeting in Boise.
Continue

Aeronautics
Teens get a taste of the wild blue yonder
The skies in south-central Idaho were a little more crowded than usual Wednesday. And the short-term pilots a little less experienced. Sixteen youths from throughout Idaho concluded a three-day Aviation Career Exploration (ACE) academy in Boise by flying with volunteer pilots in donated aircraft to several local landing strips. The culminating experience, which wrapped up in Nampa, was the highlight of a camp that introduced teens to the world of flying.
Continue
Girls State
Girls State delegate walks in father's shoes
When asked which governmental agency she would like to spend the day with as part of the American Legion Auxiliary Syringa Girls State leadership program, Brooke Roney didn’t hesitate. Her dad, Clint Roney, is a transportation technician senior in District 1. That made Brooke’s choice of the Idaho Transportation Department simple.
Continue

Highway safety
ITD's Goertz commended for work on Alive at 25
Efforts to bring the successful “Alive at 25” defensive driving course to communities across Idaho earned praise for ITD’s Margaret Goertz in a letter sent recently to Mary Hunter, ITD highway safety manager. Colorado State Patrol Trooper Joy Grissom, national training director for Alive at 25 National Law Enforcement Curriculum, cited Goertz’s “great passion for positively impacting her community and state by providing educational facets to the Idaho Transportation Department’s programs.”
Continue

Highways
Arizona firm submits winning bid in unique contracting method
An article in the June 11 Transporter in introduced a new concept by District 3 to combine similar bridge projects into a menu for contractors. The new project bidding method has the potential to save time and money. Bids opened Tuesday on the bridge-deck package, and Truesdell Corp. of Tempe, Ariz., was the apparent low bidder. The firm's proposal was to to do all 10 bridges – 10,435.5 square yards of bridge decks – for the $700,000 price tag.
Continue

LHTAC names new building after Coeur d'Alene founder
From the Coeur d'Alene Press 
No gold watch or engraved pen honored Ray Oliver's decades working with Idaho highway systems. He got a building. The Idaho Association of Highway Districts flew the Coeur d'Alene man and his wife Louise to Boise last week for the dedication of a new building in his name, in recognition of a lifetime of improving highway management in Idaho.
Continue

Safety
NOAA offers tips on safely in presence of lightning
From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Lightning strikes more than 400 people in the United States each year, causing devastating and permanent disabilities for those who survive. As NOAA’s National Weather Service hosts the 10th national Lightning Safety Awareness Week June 20-26, everyone is urged to heed this warning - when thunder roars go indoors! The annual lightning safety campaign is helping to reduce the number of deaths caused by lightning each year.
Continue

Encore
June 18, 2010

Education Outreach
ITD volunteer teachers increase classroom presence
The idea was to encourage more young people to consider studying mathematics and science because ITD and the rest of the U.S. were running low on engineers – nearly 160,000 short by 2016 So, staff from the Human Resource Services section launched an effort to reach into public schools using the Transportation and Civil Engineering (TRAC) program, purchased through a partnership with Division of Highways.
Continue

Highways
D-1 engineers return to tour projects
It was Old Home Week recently as a reunion of sorts took place in District One. District Records Inspector Steve Johnson hosted a tour of the Sand Creek Byway and Dover Bridge projects for some former employees who knew both projects very well. At one time or another, each of them had worked on one or both projects.
Continue

Man-caused incidents impede traffic on Idaho highways
Early this month persistent rain, rising rivers and accumulating debris prompted highway closures in southwest and north-central Idaho. In the past week, natural calamities gave way to man-caused incidents on Idaho’s highways. A trilogy of events began Saturday, June 12, when a Fed-Ex truck carrying hazardous materials drifted into the median and crashed near Glenns Ferry.
Continue

ITD 'beverage/discussion' group honored for talking trash
Strategy sessions often begin over baskets of peanuts and onion rings. For more than 15 years a group of ITD employees has assembled for beverages and lively discussion at the Dutch Goose near Headquarters. But the Boise Beverage And Discussion society, as members refer to themselves in mixed company, isn’t your typical book or garden club.
Continue

Alternative transportation
ITD claims gold in annual May in Motion competition
Nothing says thanks for a job well done like gold. If it can’t come in the form of precious metal, a gold award will suffice. ITD employees in the Treasure Valley recently completed the May In Motion promotion of alternative travel with one of the highest honors presented. Because of its participation level, ITD earned the Gold Level award, coordinator Judy Davis announced.
Continue

Employees
Copeland hits his stride in Ironman, triathlons
Competing in triathlons is still new to Eric Copeland, New Plymouth Maintenance Foreman. He started training for his first triathlon in May 2008 as motivation to lose some weight. After his first race he was hooked. What started as a whim became a lifestyle.

Continue

Public Transportation
Google Transit offers data on five Idaho systems
Getting around town got easier for some Idahoans since technology giant Google recently added transit information for five of Idaho's public transportation providers to its transit trip planner database. The Google Transit trip planner allows travelers to view transit routes, identify bus schedule times, gather ticket prices and plan the most efficient trip using public transportation.
Continue

Employees
Know what your kids know about drug culture
The names seem familiar enough – Old Navy, Urban Outfitters and American Eagle – but Boise Police Officer Jermaine Galloway encourages parents to get familiar with where your kids shop and to know exactly what is for sale. Apparel lines sporting designer labels like SRH and DGK are sold through traditional clothing outlets, but also are marketed through social networks and websites that celebrate a culture of drug use more than fashion sense.
Continue