6/13/2014
Transportation Board
Board to review draft FY16 budget and draft FY15-19 ITIP at June meeting
The transportation board will meet in District 3 June 18-19. Its tour of the region, however, will be combined with the District 4 tour in August. The board will conduct a workshop on Wednesday afternoon. The draft FY16 budget will be presented. The total estimated revenue available is just over $495 million.
Continue
Districts
District 5 continues dominance at 2014 ITD equipment roadeo
Evidently, breaking a 20-year dry spell last year at the ITD equipment roadeo wasn't enough for District 5. Now they've won back-to-back state titles. A year after Bruce Dial broke the two-decades-long string with his win in Garden Valley, Matt Beckstead of the Preston shop added his name to the traveling plaque honoring the best equipment operators at ITD with his triumph in Twin Falls Tuesday.
Continue
Highways
I-84 to become Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway
Interstate 84 will become the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway July 1. The Idaho Transportation Department designed and constructed the signs, which will be placed at each end of the highway and markers at intermediate sites along the highway, according to language in Senate Bill 1227.
Continue
Avalanche Alley
Historic volatility: avalanche season features 124 slides in "Avalanche Alley"
With the mercury in the 70s and 80s and temperatures climbing, it may be difficult to picture the volatility of the recent avalanche season. It's an image Bill Nicholson would just as soon forget. "It was the most challenging time in my 35-year career of dealing with avalanches," said Nicholson, ITD Southwest Idaho avalanche forecast manager.
Continue
Kudos for avalanche clean-up effort
More than 79,000 avalanche post viewings occurred on ITD's Facebook page in 2014. Many people commented on the avalanche efforts, particularly the work following the massive slide in early March.
Continue
Environment
Idaho Barn Owls need your help
Southern Idaho has the highest documented road mortality for Barn Owls in the world, and you may be able to help researchers solve this mystery. Boise State University, Montana State University and the Idaho Department of Transportation are working together to better understand why Barn Owls are being killed at such an alarming rate along the Snake River interstate corridor.
Continue
Father's Day
Honoring Dads: Interesting facts, activities and ways to celebrate
The idea of Father’s Day began with Sonora Dodd who wanted to honor her father for raising her and her siblings after their mother died in childbirth. She was listening to a sermon about honoring mothers and she decided fathers should be honored too. Her father’s birthday was in June, so she got local churches to honor fathers that month. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that the 3rd Sunday in June would be Father’s Day.
Continue
AASHTO
AASHTO Board of Directors Endorses 'Toward Zero Deaths' Strategy to Reduce Fatalities
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Board of Directors endorsed the Toward Zero Deaths strategy as a national vision for highway safety and as the updated AASHTO Strategic Highway Safety Plan. The vote occurred during the AASHTO Spring Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.
Continue
HIghway Safety
Parents drive distracted despite having young children in tow, study says
When it comes to distracted driving, even parents with young children in the car are no exception to using a cellphone, a recent study shows. Ninety percent of parents in a University of Michigan survey said they engaged in at least one distraction while driving in the past month, such as feeding a child or changing a CD, according to a study in the May-June issue of Academic Pediatrics.
Continue
Districts
Encore (6-6-14) Innovative pavement crack-sealing method unveiled by D3
There are pavement-maintenance tasks that the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) performs each year to maintain the 12,000 miles of the state highway system and meet smoothness and driveability standards. ITD always explores ways to perform these measures in a more cost-effective method, saving the department and taxpayers money. If the innovation also requires fewer employees and uses less equipment, that's even better.
Continue
AASHTO
Encore (6-6-14) AASHTO Board of Directors urges congress to immediately ensure Highway Trust Fund solvency
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Board of Director passed a resolution that calls upon Congress to ensure the solvency of the nation's Highway Trust Fund this summer, before the Federal Highway Administration is forced to begin delaying reimbursements to states for transportation work underway.
Continue
Young Driver Safety
Encore (6-6-14) Study shows that teenagers often copycat others who drink and drive
If you want to make sure your teenager doesn't drive while intoxicated, you might want to start by making sure he or she doesn't go riding with peers who have been drinking or using drugs. That's the message of a new study that found that older high school students are much more likely to drive under the influence if they've ridden with intoxicated friends.
Continue
Strategic Highway Research Program
Encore (6-6-14) Millions in SHRP2 implementation assistance available to state DOTs, others
The application process is now open for approximately $12 million in technical and financial assistance to implement 12 products developed through the second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2). For the first time, products from all four focus areas – including safety – will be available through the Implementation Assistance Program (IAP), jointly sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and the Federal Highway Administration.
Continue
