Employee accomplishments, initiatives
highlight August 15-16 board tour in CDA

Employee accomplishments and ongoing efforts dominated the August 15-16 Idaho Transportation Board meeting in Coeur d'Alene

Traditionally, District 1 rents a large bus and takes board members on a road tour of the region, but this year was different. In honor of the “Year of the Employee,” the tour was planned and executed by the employees themselves and highlighted their projects, equipment, and innovations.

The first half of the District 1 board tour on August 15 was spent at the district office.

Employees gave presentations on various topics, such as designing the Interstate 90 and Idaho Highway 41 interchange, emergency slide repairs on US-95, the ID-200 shoreline stabilization project, new personal protection equipment, and conducting virtual public meetings. Demonstrations were also given on a number of innovations, including the durapatch funnel, the truck-mounted catwalk and barrier-tong innovation for guardrail.

In the afternoon, the board viewed bridges on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

"The first half of the day was spent hearing from John Vaudreuil, Shannon Stein, Charlie While, Tim Clark, Gary Davis, Keith Viebrock and Robert Beachler about projects they have been working on," explained D1 District Engineer Damon Allen.  "Fantastic presentations! They all spoke well about the driving motivations behind our district’s work."

The second half of the morning focused on operations demonstrations, with innovations and processes presented by Dustin Chase, Gary Haynes, Jason Chaffey, Blake Charles, Miles Stevens, Gareth Abell and Dave Palmer. 

Despite the smoky weather, the second half of the day continued as planned.

"While the CDA Resort boat guided us around the lake, Phil Boyd from Welch Comer celebrated our success in the long-awaited transfer of CDA Lake Drive, and Greg Brands shared his project experiences with the Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Blue Creek Bay Bridge," Allen explained.

Two external presentations—a fiber splice demo by FATBEAM and a discussion on City Link public transit—broke up the orange-and blue-presentations.

Athol Bike Path
At the business meeting in the District 1 Office on August 16, the board approved $10,000 to pave the Athol Bike Path Extension.

As part of the initial GARVEE work in that area several years ago, an east/west bike path was built along ID-54 as part of the new interchange with US-95. Because no local jurisdiction was willing to maintain the path, it was not paved. The city of Athol is now willing to assume maintenance and operation of the bike path if the department contributes towards the paving of the path. The district will enter into a cooperative agreement with the city for maintenance and operation of the path.

Highway Safety
There were zero highway fatalities in Benewah County last year. The board recognized the Benewah County Sheriff, Benewah County Commissioners, Idaho State Police, and ITD’s maintenance staff in the area for their partnership and exemplary service keeping the roads and traveling public safe.

"That was a personal highlight for me — seeing the St. Maries crew, along with local and state law enforcement, recognized for zero deaths in Benewah County in 2017," Allen said. "Through their combined efforts year-round, they achieved the department’s goal of 'toward zero deaths' just to remind all of us that it can be done!"

Highway Safety Manager John Tomlinson and ISP Captain John Kempf also gave a presentation on work zone safety. From 2012 through 2016, there were seven fatalities in work zones. In 2017, there were nine. The board saw two recently developed public service announcements starring ITD’s Rachel Pallister from Public Transportation and District 1’s Mike Lenz. The PSAs are part of the Shift campaign, focusing on engaged driving.

Captain Kempf said that motorists appear to have difficulty making decisions while driving, so simplifying construction zones and limiting options may be helpful.

Long-Range Plan
New and emerging transportation technologies were the focus this month on the long-range transportation plan update.

Staff’s focus is on vehicles, infrastructure, fuels, driver services, funding, and data. There are physical (such as battery size and distance to recharging stations), economic, safety, and legal barriers to new and emerging technologies.

Division of Human Resources (DHR)
The DHR Administrator was in northern Idaho on other business, and stopped by the board meeting. She mentioned that a legislative interim committee is reviewing benefits and costs for state employees. A statewide employee survey will be released later this month, and she encouraged all ITD employees to participate because changes to benefits could have significant impacts.

Some board members expressed concern. The pay for some classifications is significantly below market rate, so it will be more difficult to recruit and retain employees if their pay is negatively impacted by benefit changes.

More information on this topic will be communicated to employees shortly.

Heartfelt Thanks
"I would like to again thank all of the employees who presented projects and helped with demonstrations," said a grateful Allen. " I understand between trainings, ongoing projects and delivery deadlines that this is a busy time of year—your willingness to take time to prepare these presentations and demonstrations speaks to your dedication and the quality of work you do for ITD.

"I don’t want to forget the army of the people who worked behind the scenes—whether that was ordering food, chauffeuring the group, or setting up the stage—to make the tour and meeting happen. I may have missed some names, but we could not have done it without you, especially our leaders and support in admin, as well as our lead organizers Ryan Hawkins and Robert Beachler."

 

Published 08-24-18