1/10/2017
ITD to hold open house in Salmon Jan. 19 on bridge replacements
RIGBY - The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) will hold an open house from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Jan. 19 at Salmon City Hall (200 Main Street) on design-related issues in connection with a proposed multiple-bridge, design-build project involving bridges on the Lemhi River.
ITD engineers plan to replace several bridges, including up to nine on Idaho 28 in ITD District 6 (eastern Idaho), and seven others in ITD District 4 (south-central Idaho) and District 5 (southeast Idaho), under a design-build contract.
"Design-build" means ITD will provide contract bidders with basic project parameters and selected contractors will design and construct the projects, saving the agency and taxpayers time and money. ITD plans to advertise for bids on the design-build project sometime this year.
All but one of the bridges (Agency Creek in the Tendoy area on Idaho 28) are 50 years old or older and therefore have reached their design life. Each of them will be replaced, improving highway safety, mobility and economic opportunity for the traveling public.
Each of the new bridges will be longer and wider than existing bridges, making for safer, easier passage by motorists.
Funding for the bridge replacements will be partly from general-fund surplus under a program enacted by the Idaho Legislature in 2015. The two-year, surplus-eliminator program enacted by the legislature in the 2015 legislative session has produced more than $65 million for state highway design, construction and maintenance.
Specific stakeholder groups to benefit from the bridge replacements on Idaho 28 include transport companies, ranchers, school groups traveling between Salmon and eastern Idaho for sports and other competitions, and tourists/recreationists/sports enthusiasts.
ITD will notify the public of bridges planned for replacement in Districts 4 and 5 later this year. The project, known at ITD as the "2017 Southeast Idaho Bridge Replacements Project," will serve motorists throughout Districts 4, 5 and 6.