Untitled Document

A new frontage road? Rest area? Fishing hole?

No, that's not another road paralleling I-84 west of Robinson Road.

It's not the future site of a rest area, either.

The large, excavated rectangular depression (it's about eight feet deep) is actually a drainage pond that is needed to get the storm water off the surface of the roadway for the safety of drivers and to make the roadway last longer.

When the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes of I-84 was dirt, the water could pool there and eventually would seep into the ground and dissipate.

Now that the interstate has been expanded and the median has been paved, the water cannot be absorbed - it has to be removed from the surface via piping and deposited in the drainage ponds next to the road.

The pits will be excavated and seeded to prevent erosion. What looks like a mud pit today will be a grassy depression in future years.

Motorists will notice drainage ponds at three new locations:

South of I-84 and west of Robinson Road
North of I-84 between Robinson and McDermott roads, and
Near the new University of Phoenix, (near Wahooz Fun Center/Roaring Springs) south of I-84, west of the Meridian Interchange.

Several other drainage ponds have been built or are planned for building as part of the I-84 projects in the Treasure Valley Corridor:
The Ten Mile Road Interchange will have four ponds, one in each of the four quadrants of the ramps.
The Garrity Boulevard Interchange will have three ponds, one west of the Idaho Center Boulevard (between the westbound on-ramp and Ridgecrest Road), the second north of I-84, east of Dan Wiebold Ford, and the third actually will be an expansion of an existing pond in the southeast quadrant between the ramp and I-84.
Five ponds are planned in the Franklin-to-Garrity section of I-84 in Nampa – one south of I-84 between 11th Avenue and the Union Pacific Railroad bridge, one between 11th and Garrity south of I-84, one north of I-84 between the Phyllis Canal and the railroad (just east of the KIVI-TV building), and the last two will be in the northeast and southeast quadrants of the Franklin Interchange.

Other drainage ponds:

The Orchard Street Interchange has three ponds, located between the ramps and the freeway in the northeast and southwest quadrants, plus one next to Wright Street.
The Vista Avenue Interchange project features three conventional ponds between the ramps and the right-of-way (outside) quadrants in the northeast, southeast and northwest.
Drainage for the ongoing Cole-to-Broadway widening on I-84 will be done through an underground system (buried chambers). These chambers run along the outside of the freeway on both sides. In addition, chamber ponds are planned in all four quadrants at Vista and the northwest and southwest at the Broadway Avenue Interchange, between the ramps and the freeway.
The Black Cat Road Overpass has a pond adjacent to the embankment on the northeast quadrant.
The Meridian Road Interchange has two additional ponds.