1/17/2012

Farewell Gen. Manning
Ceremony honors faithful public servant
The words were remarkably similar, yet strikingly different. Some became repetitive; all were personal and unquestionably appropriate. How do you capture a lifetime of service to state and country in 35 minutes? Friends and colleagues stood, one after another, in the ITD Headquarters auditorium Wednesday attempting to reduce Gen. Manning’s contributions to words ...
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Fitting tribute
Friends, colleagues put Gen. Manning's service into perspective
Although he is comfortable and at ease in front of audiences, Gen. Manning and his wife Rochelle were genuinely touched by the outpouring of appreciation and praise. Guests included Idaho lawmakers, Idaho’s lieutenant governor, the director of the Ada County Highway District, the Idaho division of the Federal Highway Administration and all levels of ITD employees. They came for one purpose – to honor the retiring board chairman.
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Highway safety
Idaho motor vehicle fatalities fall dramatically
Idaho leads the nation with a 31 percent reduction in traffic fatalities over the past two years, ITD and the Idaho State Police announced this week. While fewer people died in traffic crashes in Idaho in 2011 than in any year since 1956, the state’s safety leaders remain concerned that any loss of life is unacceptable.
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Financial audit
Legislative audit of ITD finds no deficiencies
The Legislative Audits Division recently concluded an annual financial audit of ITD and issued a clean bill of health. The audit resulted in no findings, indicating there were no significant issues found that require attention. Don H. Berg, manager of legislative audits submitted the management report to ITD Director Brian Ness in late December.
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Human Resources
Three HR programs catch national attention
It came as a request for more information about ITD’s Wounded Warrior program and turned into an invitation to submit an abstract of the project for the National Transportation Workforce Summit April 24-26 in Washington, D.C.
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Highway safety
ITD bids farewell to Susan Mulkey
Collecting highway safety data looked far different in 1995 than today. That’s when Susan Mulkey, crash data supervisor, began working for ITD’s Office of Highway Safety and all motor vehicle crash reports were mailed to the department Last week, colleagues gathered to wish her well as she headed off into retirement.
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Highways
Shoshone North project ready to leave starting gate
An eight-mile reconstruction project of Idaho 75 north of Shoshone has passed environmental clearances and is expected to begin this year, ending a period of delays. The project stalled for more than a year while waiting for an environmental re-evaluation and preparation of a mitigation site.
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Public workshop
Workshop will show how to do business with government
Owners and operators of private businesses, or individuals who would like to do contract work with government agencies are invited to a free workshop in Emmett Jan. 31 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The workshop will be at the USDA Service Center, 1805 Highway 16.
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Technology
Encore (1-13-12): 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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Employees
Encore (1-13-12): 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
Encore (1-13-12): 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
Encore (1-13-12): 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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State of the State
Encore (1-13-12): 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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