September 10, 2010

ITD Board
Report scheduled on cost allocation study
The Idaho Transportation board will consider details of a “cost allocation study” when it meets next week for a monthly business meeting in Twin Falls (District 4). The board meeting will begin at 9 a.m. at the Twin Falls City Hall, 305 Third Avenue East. Thursday board members will embark on an all-day tour of the district. The board initiated a study to determine the fair share of costs that each road user class should pay for the construction, maintenance, operations and related costs of highways, roads and bridges in the state.
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Research
TRB official to visit Idaho next week
Tom Palmerlee, associate director of the Technical Activities Division at the Transportation Research Board, will meet with ITD and other transportation officials next week as part of the organization’s regular field visits. Although TRB officials generally try to visit each state annually, the last trip to Idaho was in 2008, said Ned Parrish, ITD’s research program manager.
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Public affairs

Three-day national workshop planned in Boise
Public information officers representing transportation departments throughout the country will converge in Boise next week for their annual conference. The National Transportation Public Affairs Workshop (NTPAW) opens with registration and a reception Wednesday and shifts into high gear for three days of formal presentations, workshops and roundtable discussions, beginning Thursday.
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Highways
50th annual asphalt conference planned in October
Nearly 150 attendees are expected to converge on Moscow Oct. 27-28 for the 50th Idaho Asphalt Conference, including two dozen ITD representatives. Mike Santi, ITD’s assistant materials engineer and a member of the organizing committee, said the speakers for this year’s conference include the president of the Asphalt Institute and several FHWA leaders.
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Administrative workshop
Donations needed for annual assembly
Final plans are under way for the 22nd annual Administrative Workshop to be held Oct. 13 at the Nazareth Center in Boise. The event brings administrative assistants from ITD offices throughout the state to Boise for a full day of professional development presentations and networking. Judy Rogers and Lisa West are this year’s workshop directors.

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Highway safety
Fair demonstration drives home need for seat belt use
More than 1,200 broken eggs helped make a point to Western Idaho Fair goers that people should always be properly restrained when traveling in a motor vehicle. A seat belt demonstration used chicken eggs and a Barbie car to demonstrate what happens to restrained and unrestrained motor vehicle occupants during a 35 mph crash.
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Technology
Advisory issued on malicious e-mail
The ITD Service Desk reports a malicious e-mail with a link to a malicious file has been targeting government and businesses. The e-mail subject line may contain "Here You Have" and "Just For You."  The sender appears under a variety of identifiers. The spam contains a link to a document; the link looks like it is to a PDF, but is, in fact, to an “SCR” file (supposedly a screen saver) and served from a different domain from where the link appears to point.
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ICON
Credit union moves to new Coeur d'Alene location
Icon Credit Union announces its move to a new location in the Coeur d’Alene marketplace. Beginning in October, the credit union branch will be relocated to 1336 W. Kathleen Ave. in Coeur d’Alene. Icon has outgrown the existing branch at 1839 N. Government Way and is excited to present the beautifully-renovated facility as its new home for Coeur d’Alene members to visit. The building was purchased in July of 2010 and was formerly the Coeur d’Alene Teacher’s Credit Union, across from Ramsey Elementary School.
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Craft bazaar
DoRolCo accepting table reservations for Oct. 15 event
Reservations are being accepted for the annual DoRolCo fall craft bazaar in the Headquarters lobby, Oct. 15. The bazaar will be from 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The cost to reserve as table (one table per person) is $10. Tables are available on a first-come, first-reserve basis. A limited number of tables will be available.
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Fitness
ITD, ISP to form joint 'Road Angels' team for annual event
The Idaho State Police and ITD will combine to form the Road Angels team as part of the St. Lukes Women’s Celebration 5K run, walk and stroll in downtown Boise, Sept. 25. The fitness celebration theme is “Feel the Joy Rising. Runners and walkers are divided and will be assigned specific start times according to ability. The “red” and “yellow” waves are timed, competitive waves. The red wave is a timed, competitive run; participants should sign up in this wave if they want to do a combination of both running and walking.
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ITD Mailbox
• Thanks for Western Idaho Fair highway safety booth
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Encore
September 3, 2010

High-density foam uses as unique highway fill
High-density foam products such as those used as fast-food drink containers and insulated coolers often are considered a threat to the environment. They have a long life span, are not biodegradable and clog landfills. But those same characteristics make high-density foam an appropriate material for some highway construction applications, as ITD is proving in southeast Idaho.
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MADD assembly
ITD's Losness to attend 30th anniversary conference
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) turns 30 this year, and ITD’s Lisa Losness will be on hand to help mark the anniversary at the organization’s national conference in Washington, D.C., Sept. 23-25. Losness recently was awarded a scholarship to attend the three-day gathering and participate in some of the 50 workshops
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Preparedness
Hazard mitigation can lessen disaster effects
The first two months of 2010 demonstrated the destructive power of earthquakes. Haiti had a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that killed an estimated 300,000 people. Chile was hit by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake (about 100 times more powerful) and suffered 700 deaths. Poverty and population density played significant roles in this difference, but a third factor was also involved.

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