Transportation
forum nears midpoint
With its Tuesday, June 28 meeting, the Forum on Transportation
Investment will mark the halfway point of the panel’s study of
issues regarding the next 30 years of transportation infrastructure
in the state.
The fourth in the scheduled series of seven meetings will be at the
Holiday Inn in Boise from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
The meeting’s topics will include an overview of the Forum’s
goals and discussions about what has been covered to date, the difference
between current revenue and potential needs, and revenue and finance
options that might help to close that gap.
“We look forward to rejoining participants at the meeting in Boise,”
said forum chairman Jim Kempton. “All of the participants have
been exceedingly generous with their time and expertise.”
Through a series of seven meetings that began last fall, the Forum on
Transportation Investment is examining highway, rail and transit issues
in Idaho and assessing the state’s goals through 2030. After investigating
current and potential future finance tools, the forum will recommend
actions and policies that will assist Idaho in achieving its future
transportation vision through a report to the Idaho Transportation Board.
The June meeting will feature the first facilitated all-member discussions
of the series in both the morning and afternoon sessions. In previous
meetings, the discussions have been held in small break-out groups.
The featured speakers at this meeting include Ed McKechnie, senior vice
president of WATCO, a short line rail owner, and luncheon speaker Gary
Maring, senior analyst at Cambridge Systematics.
The next meeting in the Forum on Transportation Investment series will
be at Templin’s Resort in Post Falls on Sept. 13.