10/21/2011

Employees
Basket raffle to benefit United We Care
Drawings for baskets that contain a variety of fun, themed items is scheduled for Friday afternoon. Proceeds from the raffle benefit the Idaho state employees charitable giving campaign, United We Care. Click on "continue" to see a list of the baskets and their contents.
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Board
Visits to districts conclude with trip to District 5
The Idaho Transportation Board will wrap up its annual district tours Wednesday and Thursday with a trip to the Pocatello area and District 5. The focus will be on the U.S. 30 GARVEE corridor. Those projects are in the final stages of completion. Members will meet with Lava Hot Springs officials and business representatives for a Wednesday lunch and discussion of economic vitality and the important role transportation plays in the economy.
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Planning
Highway planning requires balancing access, mobility
Balancing the need for traffic movement with property access is the Idaho Transportation Department's goal in construction projects. Most state highways serve a function somewhere between interstate highways, which have limited access and high mobility, and local residential roads, which provide numerous accesses to properties but are not appropriate for long-distance travel.
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Employee access
PASS access system to make debut Monday
A new system that allows a single entry point for requesting and approving employee access will be unveiled Monday (Oct. 24) for supervisors and administrative support staff. Several ITD sections have been working with Chicago-based software vendor Integris to develop the system.
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Highway safety
Idaho geography presents challenges for crash responses
In the United States rural roads account for less than half of the vehicle miles traveled, but over 56 percent of fatalities happen on rural roads. The average fatality rate for rural roads is more than twice the rate for urban roads – 2.4 per 100 million VMT for rural roads compared to 1.0 per 100 million VMT average fatality rate for urban roads. This trend is also the case in Idaho.
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Highways
Plan for curb ramps posted on ITD website
ITD has posted the final plan to build pedestrian curb ramps along state highways and improve existing ramps. The plan, required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), identifies and prioritizes needed improvements along state highways across Idaho.
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Public workshop
Help available to explain construction documentation
You don’t need a room full of lawyers or a full security detail to protect yourself when it comes to providing required documentation on a construction project. Learn the different types of documentation that go with construction projects at a free workshop hosted by the Idaho Transportation Department on Oct. 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in ITD’s East Annex at 3292 Jordan Street in Boise.
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Employees
Two-month holiday granted for insurance premiums
Good News! During the last Legislative session, the Department of Administration was directed to provide a two month premium holiday for employees and agencies as was done last year. The premium holidays will impact employee pay checks on the following dates in November (for December coverage) and December (for January coverage) – November 10, 25, and December 9, 23.
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ITD Mailbox
Letters of appreciation
• Thanks for assistance with Marine training • California could learn from Idaho DMV
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Employee safety
Two-day training planned on fall prevention
For those who have not mastered the art of falling with style, the Associated General Contractors of America will present a special program at the 2012 Safety Fest in Boise. “Fall Protection Training in the Construction Industry,” will be part of a comprehensive program Jan. 25, 26, 2012, on construction and workplace safety.
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Employees
Redesigned PeopleFinder2 ready for Monday launch
As many have noticed, there have been some problems with the PeopleFinder application lately, especially since the organizational changes were put into place in recent months. As a consequence, the PeopleFinder application has been rewritten. Now called PeopleFinder2, it still provides similar information as the previous version but with the addition of listing the subordinates for a selected supervisor.
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Employees
New PerksCards available; reregistration required
Several years ago ITD introduced the discount PerksCard purchasing option for employees as a way of saying thanks for their continued service. The perks card is a program that works with local businesses and service providers to extend discounts to ITD employees. There is no cost to the state or to ITD.
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AASHTO
Michigan DOT director named AASHTO president
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials(AASHTO) Board of Directors voted at its annual meeting in Detroit to elect Michigan Transportation Director Kirk Steudle as the association's president for the next year. Rhode Island Transportation Director Michael Lewis was elected AASHTO vice president.
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Highways
Encore (10-14-11): D-3 worker finds roadside windfall, returns it to owner
New Meadows maintenance technician Rick Dreyer was returning a backhoe to the shop on Oct. 3 when he spotted the greenback on the side of the road about three miles north of the shed. Dreyer stopped to take a closer look. As he looked closer, and expanded his search, he found a total of $843 over about a 200-yard area.
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Employees
Encore (10-14-11): Avalanche forecaster sets record on El Capitan climb
Chantel Astorga, one of District 3’s Avalanche Forecasters located in Lowman, was part of a duo that set the female speed climbing record on Sept. 16, scaling the Nose on Yosemite’s El Capitan (3,000 vertical feet) in 10 hours and 40 minutes. Astorga and Libby Sauter, a member of Yosemite’s Search and Rescue Team, broke the record of 12 hours and 15 minutes set in 2004.
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Employees
Encore (10-14-11): Admin. workshop focuses on ITD operations
Administrative support personnel from throughout the state got better acquainted – with themselves and with transportation department – when they assembled Thursday for the 23rd annual Administrative/Support Staff conference in Boise.
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Highways
Encore 10-14-11): Studded tire season opened Oct. 1
ITD reminds drivers they can use studded tires to improve vehicle handling in snow and ice. The use of studded tires is legal from Oct. 1 through April 30. Snow has fallen in several of Idaho's higher elevations recently and likely will spread to the rest of the state as winter conditions arrive.
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Transit technology
Enncore (10-14-11): Draft of five-year plan available for review
The final draft of a plan that will guide future transit technology investments in the Division of Transportation Performance is available for review. The 43-page Idaho 2011 Transit Technology Plan is a five-year roadmap of “where we go from here.” It focuses on public transit technologies and does not include other ITD or Transportation Performance initiatives.
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