Innovation grants, state dwellings, higher ID-55 bid
will highlight Jan. 22 board meeting

Innovation grants, state-owned dwellings and justification of a high bid on a Highway 55 project will highlight the upcoming January 22 Idaho Transportation Board Meeting at the ITD Headquarters Auditorium at 3311 W. State Street in Boise.

State Transportation Innovation Councils Incentive Grant
At its meeting, the board will be asked to add a State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) Incentive Grant project to the Idaho Transportation Improvement Program.

Federal STIC grants are available to support the costs of standardizing innovative practices. The Local Highway Technical Assistance Council was awarded $100,000 for the Local, Bridge Repair and Bundling Workshops project. It will provide the 20% required match. The funds will be used to host two or three workshops.

State-owned dwellings
Information on ITD-owned dwellings, including the fair rental value, rental status, and monthly rental fee will be provided to the board.

Per policy, the department may provide or rent state-owned dwellings to employees in situations where the best interests of the department are served. There are a few locations where employees reside in state-owned dwellings as a condition of employment.

The department owns two apartments at the Johnson Creek and Cavanaugh Bay airstrips -- used seasonally -- plus three stick-framed houses, 16 manufactured homes, and six bunkhouses. There are also 19 trailer pads, of which 11 have employee-owned manufactured housing on them.

Because rest-area maintenance contracts require some contractors to be available for daily conferences and on call for emergencies 24/7, the department provides state-owned dwellings as part of the maintenance contract. This includes nine trailer pads and three houses.

Bid Justification
The low bid on the ID-55, Smiths Ferry to Round Valley project was more than 10% over the engineer’s estimate. Per policy, staff is required to justify the higher bid and seek board approval to either award the bid or reject it.

This stretch of highway between Boise and McCall is in a narrow canyon where guardrail cannot be provided on the roadway because geometrics are so bad and width so restricted. This high-accident section needs to be realigned, widened, and straightened by blasting rock and building retaining walls.

The low bid was $25.7M, or 137% of the engineer’s estimate. In staff’s review of the bids, it appears the excavation, temporary rockfall barrier, and mobilization items accounted for the majority of difference between the low bid and engineer’s estimate. The low bid is responsible, so the district will be requesting board approval to award the project, which is expected to take three years to construct.

In addition, both the Subcommittee on State Highway System adjustments and the Subcommittee on 129,000-lb. Truck Routes will meet on Jan. 21.

Published 01-17-20