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Wildlife collisions, ID-16 savings and electronic ticketing
highlight May board meeting

Mitigation efforts to reduce vehicle-animal collisions, a measure to shave $25 million from the ID-16 corridor work, and statewide electronic ticketing to ease time requirements for police highlighted the May meeting of the Idaho Transportation Board in Pocatello.

District 5 tour
The board visited several Pocatello businesses on May 15 to learn about their operations and transportation needs, as part of the tour that emphasized the importance of transportation to the economy.

The board also stopped at the American Falls maintenance shed where employees presented information on topics such as the Interstate 15, Fort Hall Interchange and Rose Road Interchange projects; vegetation management; and port of entry operations.

Wildlife-vehicle collision mitigation
At its business meeting in Pocatello on May 16, the board heard a couple of presentations on vehicle-wildlife mitigation efforts.

Representatives from the Center for Landscape Conservation and the Western Transportation Institute summarized cost-effective strategies for reducing vehicle/wildlife collisions, reported on cost-benefit analyses to address these crashes, and emphasized the importance of public-private partnerships.

The cost-benefit analysis considers costs related to fatalities, serious injuries, repairs to vehicles, and recreation/hunting. Low-cost, but largely ineffective mitigation efforts include deer reflectors and mirrors, deer whistles, and standard warning signs. Mid-level measures include seasonal wildlife warning signs, vegetation removal, and population culling or relocation. Although the most effective measures are more expensive, such as animal-detection systems, fences, and fences with either an underpass or overpass, they generally pay for themselves over time.

Staff from ITD and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reported on the partnership to address a deer-migration corridor at Rocky Point on US-30, about 10 miles south of Montpelier. The FY25 project is being developed cooperatively. The project is focusing on a three-mile segment where approximately 70% of the migration occurs. Two crossing structures are planned. One crossing will be an underpass and the second crossing is still being determined. Fencing will also be needed to force the mule deer to the crossing structures.

The total cost is estimated at $5.5 million. The Department of Fish and Game is committing about $1 million. Additional partners may be considered to help fund the project.

Statewide Electronic Ticketing
A Statewide Electronic Ticketing (SWET) program was introduced statewide last year, after several years of testing. Currently, 12 law enforcement agencies use the system to write tickets electronically, and 28 other agencies have started the process to use this system.

All of the equipment and components for SWET come from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grant through the Office of Highway Safety. The electronic system is faster, enabling officers to continue patrolling sooner. This also improves safety because officers are parked on the side of the road for shorter periods of time. The system should be more accurate because it eliminates handwritten tickets, and occasionally handwriting can be difficult to decipher.

If an officer decides to issue a warning instead of a ticket, the warning is deposited into a statewide repository that can be viewed by other law-enforcement officers. If a ticket is issued, it goes into the judicial system.

Update on ID-16 Corridor, ID-44 to I-84
As part of value-engineering and alternatives-analysis efforts, right-of-way and cost savings have been identified in the ID-16, Hwy 44 to I-84 corridor. The refinements include ID-16 going over versus under east-west routes, reducing the right-of-way footprint throughout the corridor, interchange type analysis and configuration verification, and additional system interchange alternatives.

It is anticipated that approximately 120 fewer acres will need to be acquired and cost savings could be around $25 million.

Approximately $70 million will be needed to start the next phase of construction; however, the construction funds have not been identified.