1/13/2012

Chairman Manning farewell
Ceremony planned Wednesday at about 3 p.m. for Chairman Manning
Darrell Manning will preside over a final transportation board meeting Wednesday before passing the gavel to District 3 board member Jerry Whitehead. Chairman Manning has served since 2007 and has a long, distinguished career in Idaho government. A formal farewell ceremony will begin after the board adjourns – at about 3 p.m. Presentations are planned by Director Brian Ness and officials from FHWA and ACHD. Friends and colleagues also are invited to extend their best wishes.
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State of the State
Governor focuses on economy in annual address
State government, including ITD, will take a lead role in growing the economy and expanding job opportunities for its citizens during economic recovery, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter emphasized in his annual State of the State and budget address Monday.
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Transportation board
Board to consider transferring 1.4 miles of U.S. 95
The Transportation Board’s subcommittee on Adjustments to the State Highway Systems recently learned of District 3’s efforts to relinquish some highway miles from the state system. Subcommittee members have been encouraging staff to transfer roads that don’t function as state highways to appropriate local jurisdictions.
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Employees / technology
Tolman named interim technology leader
Jon Pope, who has served as ITD’s chief technology officer the past four years, will leave his position Friday and return to Adelaide, Australia, where he has family and a owns a small farm.
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Employees
Form Finder II to be available next week
The Records and Forms Management unit of Business and Support Management announces the original Form Finder has been updated to make it easier to locate ITD forms, download electronic versions and obtain current and historical information about active and inactive forms.
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Highways
LED lights offer many benefits
District 3 is joining other public-vehicle fleets in testing the use of LED warning lights (the lights on top of the cab) to save fuel and reduce air pollution. LED lights require much less electricity to operate, so they don’t drain truck batteries nearly as rapidly as the old incandescent lights.
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Accolades
WTS to honor Crider, interchange project
An ITD partnership with H.W. Lochner and the continuing contributions of an ITD engineer will be honored this month at the annual awards ceremony of the Women in Transportation Society (WTS). Monica Crider, an active member of the women engineers group, will be recognized as its member of the year.
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Technology
Gnawing squirrels interrupt network
Lightning can strike the same place twice. It did last week in Boise. Network connectivity was interrupted temporarily Tuesday morning – the first, and typically the busiest, business day of the year for processing vehicle registrations and titles, and driver’s licenses. It came exactly one year after a problem with a cooling system at Headquarters caused the department’s main network servers to shut down.
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Accolades
DMV staff help solve driver's identity issue
Gloria finally reached a separation point with her alter ego, thanks to ITD’s Division of Motor Vehicles. The name she used professionally was slightly different than the one appearing on her driver’s license. Several attempts to align the two were challenging because California recognized the name she used for business and social reasons.
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Preparedness
Blood donations can be a lifeline
This New Year, make a resolution to find out if you belong to a life-saving percentage of the population. According to the American Red Cross, only 37 percent of the people in the U.S. are eligible to donate blood; only five percent of those eligible actually donate each year. January is national blood donor month.
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Employees
Walgreens to assist prescription transitions
As you are aware, effective Jan. 1 Walgreens no longer is a network pharmacy with Express Scripts the prescription management company that Blue Cross of Idaho uses.
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Headquarters
Historic steam shovel destined for ITD Headquarters
For as long as many people can remember, it called the busy Boise intersection of Broadway Avenue and Myrtle Street home. It lives in the shadow of a monolithic six-story concrete building.
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Accolades
ACEC chapter picks Portneuf bridges best in 'structural systems'
The Portneuf River Bridges in District 5 emerged as the top engineering project in statewide competition sponsored by the Idaho chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies. It was chosen the best project in the “structural systems” category as part of the 2012 Engineering Excellence Awards competition.
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Employees
Hiatt's 'little' brother provides pre-Rose Bowl heroics
District 6 Engineering Manager Karen Hiatt, is proud of her “little” brother. Mark Asper is a 6-foot-7, 325-pound offensive lineman for the University of Oregon football team that claimed the 2012 Rose Bowl championship this week, beating the University of Wisconsin 45-38. Asper, a graduate of Bonneville High School in Idaho Falls, played a significant part in the Ducks’ first Rose Bowl victory since 1917.
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Icon Credit Union
Reflecting on 60 years of change
In anticipation of our 60th Anniversary as a credit union in 2012, I have been reflecting on the vast number of changes for Icon Credit Union. These changes include moving our first small office, located in downtown Boise in the 1950s, to our current Rose Street location that houses our largest branch today.
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