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ITD fielded a bridge complaint from the public,
then quickly collaborated on a solution

The backbone of good customer service is a rapid, thorough response, so when a member of the public commented on excessive erosion at the base of the ID-33 Canyon Creek Bridge between Newdale and Clementsville, ITD went to work on a solution. Within just a few days, the repair was complete.

The Canyon Creek bridge was built in 2006 and stands next to the original CC bridge, which is now owned by a local farmer. The district is using the old bridge to drain the water, yet the old bridge (and road) is basically caused this erosion to occur.

Here’s the chronology of the event:

Monday, May 13 - I received an email from our local news station, KIDK, about a citizen concern in regards to a local bridge. The citizen took a photo of the bridge and let us know that there was a large amount of erosion around the west pillar footings. We informed our local maintenance foreman, Lucas Richins, D6 Operations Engineer Wade Allen, then discussed it with Dan Gorley in HQ bridge inspection.
Lucas went out ASAP to measure the depth of the erosion and found it was a little worse than it looked. He began making a plan to start damage control to help prevent any more erosion to the pillar.

Tuesday, May 14 - The bridge inspection crew from Boise came out in the morning to inspect the erosion. They reported the erosion needed to be fixed to keep it from further damage, but concluded the bridge was safe for the traveling public.

After the inspection, Lucas and his crew began to haul the proper equipment and materials in to make appropriate repairs to mitigate the drainage and prevent further erosion. They put material in the corner to fill in where the water was draining. They also brought in material to build up the shoulders on both sides of the road so the water would drain properly.

Crews laid down hot mix asphalt from the shoulder to the edge of the old bridge drain so that way the water would flow out of the drain on the old CC bridge.

They completed all repairs within just two days.

“ITD is now working on pertinent improvements to the bridge footings,” said Allen. “The Canyon Creek bridge is safe for the public to drive over as the erosion around the bridge pillars does not pose any safety risk.”

Note: Starting with a complaint we received on Monday afternoon, our crews worked on this emergency before the rainy weather began and was able to repair and mitigate the water properly within just days. I believe that is a big shout out to the crews that pitched in to help — Lucas Richins’ (Sugar City crew) & Ryan Wright (Ashton crew), Wade Allen, Dan Gorley and the bridge inspection crew.