10/28/2011

Accolades
Wounded Warrior training project wins AASHTO award
Idaho’s Wounded Warrior Transportation Job Training pilot program, which helps veterans injured in Afghanistan and Iraq find meaningful employment in the transportation field, has earned a national AASHTO President's Award for its success.
Continue

Safety
Caution urged for Halloween outings Monday
Streets and highways throughout Idaho will turn ghoulish Monday as ghosts, goblins, witches and other characters embark on an annual quest for Halloween treats. ITD encourages parents to use caution and common sense before sending their children into the dark.
Continue

Highways
Guard unit, fellowship honored for cleanup campaigns
By the very nature of their service, Idaho’s citizen soldiers invest in the well being of their communities. Guardsmen in Blackfoot have taken that commitment to community a step further by adopting a state highway and cleaning it of unsightly trash.
Continue

Highway safety
Trauma nurse puts safety message into graphic perspective
Highway safety advocate Pam Holt talked to students at Nampa and Skyview high schools about making good driving choices before wrapping up a visit to Idaho last week.
Continue

Speed limits
Safety, prudence, highway conditions guide decisions
Questions occasionally surface about how ITD and local jurisdictions establish speed limits for routes under their control. Decisions are based on what is "safe and prudent" for driving conditions. The posted limit is a maximum speed when there are no obstacles or distractions and the pavement is dry. Those "clear" conditions are not always the norm.
Continue

Timekeepers
Prepare to move clocks back an hour on Nov. 6
Relax. Take your time. You've got an extra hour to burn when Daylight Saving Time reverts back to ordinary, standard time Sunday, Nov. 6. Before hitting the pillow on Saturday night, Nov. 5, take a few minutes to set all of your time machines back an hour. Then catch up on the hour of sleep you surrendered back in March. (Purists can wait until 2 a.m. Sunday if they have the patience.)
Continue

Employees
Basket raffle benefits United We Care campaign
A raffle for baskets at Headquarters Friday provided funds for the Idaho state employees charitable giving campaign, United We Care. The baskets contained a variety of fun, themed items and carried values of up to $1,000. See who took home the bounty.
Continue

Preparedness
National emergency alert test planned Nov. 6
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will conduct the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS).
Continue

Planning
Encore (10-21-11): 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.
Continue

Employee access
Encore (10-21-11): 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.
Continue

Highway safety
Encore (10-21-11): 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.
Continue

Highways
Encore (10-21-11): 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.
Continue

Employees
Encore (10-21-11): 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.
Continue

Employees
Encore (10-21-11): Redesigned PeopleFinder2 ready for 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.
Continue