6/22/2012

Accolades
Projects, individuals honored for transportation excellence
ITD presented awards for project design and development, public participation and professional contributions last week at the Idaho Transportation Board meeting in Boise. The Excellence in Transportation Awards are given annually to recognize exceptional achievements in the development, planning and implementation of transportation projects throughout the state.
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Environment, safety
'Living' snow fence to improve U.S. 20 safety
Drivers on U.S. 20 from Mountain Home to Fairfield will see a new structure soon in the flat landscape dominated for years by sagebrush, barbed wire fences, and, in the winter, snowdrifts that create havoc with travelers. In mid-May, crews from ITD’s Mountain Home maintenance shed installed a 1,600-foot “living snow fence” along the highway, between mileposts 109 and 110,
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Transportation board
Board tours hazardous materials transfer center
Members of the Idaho Transportation Board learned last week how hazardous materials arrive by rail and are transferred to trucks for disposal at the US Ecology site. They visited the site as part of their three-day workshop, tour and board meeting in District 3.
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Adopt-A-Highway
One clean mile deserves another ... and another
Give people an inch and they'll take a mile. Give them two miles and they’ll grab four miles … or six … or more. Gretchen Sherlin and her partner and husband Mike Harkins wanted to help preserve the scenic beauty of central Idaho so they volunteered for ITD’s Adopt-A-Highway program.
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ACE Academy
Youths will get new perspective of their world
What does our piece of earth look like from the air, and what does it take to view it from that perspective? Teenagers from throughout Idaho will discover answers to those questions next week when they participated in the annual ACE (Aviation Career Education) Academy sponsored by ITD’s Division of Aeronautics.
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Educational outreach
Strauss, Tipuric promote engineering profession at e-Girls
Young women attending the e-Girls Workshop at Boise State University didn’t need to look far for a few good role models. ITD outreach volunteers Karen Strauss and Sajonara Tipuric provided a glimpse of their lives as transportation department engineers to nearly 40 young women at BSU’s two-day e-Girls program.
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Employees
D-1's Rearden repeats as top driver at state 'roadeo'
Mike Rearden returned to a familiar home last week -- the winner's circle -- after winning the 2012 ITD truck roadeo, staged at Dworshak Dam near Orofino. Rearden successfully defended his individual title as the department's top equipment operator. He and runner-up Mark Porter qualified for a berth at the national finals this fall in Colorado.
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Employees
Financial help sought for ITD burnout victim
A range fire that swept through an area near Mountain Home early this week destroyed 12-15 buildings and damaged or consumed six homes, including that of ITD’s Clyde Charbonneau.
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ITD Mailbox
Deflated but not dejected on I-90
On May 30th, 2012, while traveling on I-90 at milepost 57, the right front tire on my 37-foot motorhome blew. Luckily, no one injured, nor was there any damage other then to the front of my motorhome.
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Employees
Brown-bag program planned on service dogs
Dogs are great company and fun companions but a select few also are valuable personal aides. Representatives from Companion Training will talk about service dogs and how those animals transform people’s lives Thursday (June 28) at noon in the Headquarters Auditorium. The program is part of ITD’s brown-bag lunch series.
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Highways
Cascade road, bridge work scheduled to begin in July
A replacement of the North Fork Payette River Bridge in downtown Cascade and two miles of pavement resurfacing on Idaho 55 in town will begin in mid-July. The highway project is expected to finish in late August, and the bridge work will extend into the summer 2013.
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Highway safety
Fatality rate declining for teenage drivers
Okay, here goes, I am going to date myself. Many (many, many) years ago my parents woke up on an early June morning, and I am sure probably looked at each other and over their cup of coffee choked those immortal words of “Oh my god, he is heading off to driver's training today.”
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Aeronautics
Encore (6-15-12): Cubs descend on Johnson Creek strip
Each year, the skies over Johnson Creek airstrip in the Sawtooth Mountains are filled with small private airplanes that descend on the remote backcountry destination. The popular, grass-carpeted airstrip is nestled between the peaks overshadowing Yellow Pine.
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Mobility
Encore (6-15-12): Idaho ranks sixth in Safe Walk to School participation
Idaho’s commitment to mobility and safe alternative routes to school elevated the state to sixth nationally in 2011 International Walk to School participation. Only five other states surpassed Idaho’s level of participation, according to information released last week by the international organization.
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Accolades
Encore (6-15-12): ITD one of only two states to claim multiple ARTBA awards
Only two states in the country – Idaho and Maryland – returned with multiple awards from the 2012 American Road and Transportation Builders Association Transportation Development Foundation, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
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Highways
Encore (6-15-12): ITD Joint highway repairs shows efficiency, cooperation
Concern over “soft spots” in the center of the road on U.S. 20 in Mountain Home north of Interstate 84 recently provided the opportunity for District 3 maintenance to operate in the forward-thinking, “can-do” culture ITD’s leadership has suggested.
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