12/1/2011
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Commuters and airmen benefit as ITD repair of damaged I-84 lanes east of Boise nears completion
BOISE - A much-anticipated project to correct severe pavement deficiencies on Interstate 84's eastbound lanes between Boise and Mountain Home, under way since mid-July, will likely finish in mid-December. The improvement will benefit commuters, including many airmen from the nearby military airbase.
“Many airmen from Mountain Home Air Force Base reside in and often visit Idaho's
vibrant capital city,” said Lt. Col. Ainsley O’Reilly, chief of 366th
Fighter Wing Safety. “The newly repaved section of I-84 greatly enhances
the surface condition of the roadway between Boise and Mountain Home to
make the commute safer for our airmen and other transient traffic using
the corridor.”
“With winter weather around the corner, we are
grateful for the Idaho Transportation Department’s hard work to complete
this construction project and open all lanes to traffic,” he added.
Here are photos 1, 2 and 3 of the pavement replacement.
The $10.4 million project begins near milepost 70 (the Stage Stop and Mayfield Road Interchange) and extends east of the Simco Road Interchange to milepost 82.2.
Signs were installed last fall along this stretch of highway asking truck drivers to move left to preserve the pavement in the right lanes until the pavement could be repaired in this project. The top two inches of the existing pavement was removed and 10 inches of concrete applied in its place to form the new travel surface.
Initially, crews built crossovers to route traffic from the east to the west side. Traffic shared the westbound travel lanes during the work in an opposing one-lane configuration. The ramps at exits 71 (Stage Stop) and 74 (Simco Road) also were repaired.
That stretch of I-84 was constructed in 1959. The road received an overlay in 1961, another overlay in 1989, and seal coats in 1986 and 2002. ITD maintenance crews did some blade patching (a maintenance technique for repairing an asphalt surface) last fall to extend the roadway use until a more permanent fix could be applied via this project.