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Board to tour Pocatello-area projects on
final road trip of year

The Idaho Transportation Board will conclude its 2007 district tours in southeast Idaho next week, visiting projects in District 5 on Wednesday and conducting a regular business meeting in Pocatello on Thursday.

Board members and ITD representatives will travel to the Pocatello Regional Airport and visit Pocatello Regional Transit facilities. They also will stop at the Flying J in McCammon. ITD partnered with the truck stop to establish a safety rest area for travelers on Interstate 15 south of Pocatello.

The board tour then will focus the GARVEE projects on U.S. 30 before returning to Pocatello.

On the board agenda

Capital Investment Program & STIP
In June, the board reviewed the draft FY08-12 Capital Investment Program. The highway projects were then incorporated into the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, which was released for public review and comment.

Public comments and requests were incorporated into the recommended program by the districts wherever fiscal constraint and project readiness allowed. The Capital Investment Program will be presented to the board for approval at Thursday’s business meeting. Some of the changes since June include the reduction of the Rest Area Program from $10 million to $5 million, addition of an annual $5 million set-aside for pavement preservation and the delay of FY07 Safe Routes to School projects.

In addition to surface transportation projects, the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program includes aviation and public transit projects. More than 1,500 copies of the document were distributed during the public comment period – July and August. ITD received more than 200 comments on the draft. The final STIP document will be presented to the board for approval at the board meeting, and pending board approval, will be forwarded to the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration for their approval.

2008 legislation
The board, at its July meeting, approved 21 legislative ideas for consideration during the 2008 legislative session. The Division of Financial Management approved 10 of those concepts to advance. One has been dropped– securing hay bales during in-state transport. The other 10 ideas, including the various revenue proposals, have been held for further review.

ITD staff members drafted legislation for the 10 proposals that have been approved to date. The board will be asked to approve the legislation, which must be submitted to the governor’s office by Sept. 21. The topics include: