7/12/2016
Reed Hollinshead
ITD Communication
208-334-8881
reed.hollinshead@itd.idaho.gov
Road and bridge work north of Pocatello near Fort Hall, funded by general fund surplus, begins Monday (July 18)
POCATELLO - Work is expected to begin Monday (July 18) on a project that will extend the life of the pavement in a six-mile stretch of Interstate 15 north of Pocatello near Fort Hall by an estimated 20 years. The project is expected to finish about three months later, in mid-fall.
This $7.1-million project is funded by surplus in the general fund.
This project will ensure the highway is structurally sound and can handle the weight of commercial vehicles on I-15, also known as the CANAMEX Corridor. The primary partners/stakeholders benefiting from this work are the city of Blackfoot, Bingham County, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe and the trucking industry.
The work from the Fort Hall Indian Reservation boundary to the Burns Road Overpass (milepost 76 to 82.1 in the map below) also will include bridge maintenance and excavation to increase vertical clearance of overhead structures, creating a standard clearance of 17’-1” on the six bridges/overpasses in the project area.
Click here for a map of the project location.
The pavement work will include cold-milling several inches from the surface layer using an in-depth resurfacing method called Cement Recycled Asphalt Base Stabilization (CRABS). CRABS is a process of pulverizing existing pavement and blending it with cement to create a new base section, then reshaping and compacting it in preparation for new asphalt pavement.
Crews will begin by constructing median crossovers on the freeway to separate fast-moving traffic from highway workers. Work will continue on a 24/7 basis until the roadway can be returned to normal traffic flow. Traffic is expected to be running as normal during the Eastern Idaho State Fair in early September.
Traffic will be in a two-lane/two-way pattern. The speed limit will be reduced to 70 mph, with a 12-foot-wide load restriction.
Knife River Corporation, Boise, is the prime contractor.
The Idaho Transportation Board selected road and bridge projects across Idaho in December 2015 for maintenance and repair work. The projects are all funded by the $54.1 million in general fund surplus provided by the Idaho Legislature last year. Selections came from a pool of projects based on analysis of each project’s return on investment in the areas of safety, mobility, economic opportunity, bridge condition and right-of-way purchases.
Click here for the status of the statewide projects funded by new revenue.