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ITD to assist holiday travelers on Idaho 55

If your Memorial Day weekend (May 29-31) plans include travel on Idaho 55, the Idaho Transportation Department advises you to avoid the heaviest traffic by traveling outside peak travel times or using alternate routes. ITD also will again supply flaggers to help traffic flow.

Since 1995, ITD has assisted motorists over the longer Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day holiday weekends at the heavily used intersection of Idaho 55 and the Banks-to-Lowman Wildlife Canyon Scenic Byway.

Travelers will see electronic message boards in that area along with flaggers to help traffic move smoothly on Monday (May 31) starting at 10 a.m. Flaggers will remain in place until no longer required.

An Incident Response vehicle also will be on hand.

"Congestion is heaviest in this area, as travelers from the Garden Valley area access Idaho 55," said ITD Maintenance Engineer Gary Moles. "We want everyone to have a safe and fun weekend."

During holiday weekends, about three times the amount of traffic travels on those roads as compared to the average day. On Memorial Day last year, there were nearly 2,500 vehicles traversing the Banks-to-Lowman road (versus 990 average) and more than 5,500 going southbound on Idaho 55 (vs. 1,700 average).

That's about three times as much traffic on Idaho 55 compared to the Banks-to-Lowman highway on Memorial Day, so the flaggers maintain that same 3-1 ratio in terms of cycle length - 15 minute intervals on Old Highway 17 versus 5 minutes on Idaho 55.

All ITD projects will be suspended during the holiday and many will resume June 1.

The transportation department offers the following tips for holiday weekend travelers:

Congestion is heaviest on the last evening of the holiday weekend, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Consider returning from your trip before or after this time to avoid the rush.
Consider using an alternate route. To use U.S. 95, travel north on Idaho 55 from McCall, take U.S. 95 south and use Interstate 84 to return to the Treasure Valley. This route may take less time than using Idaho 55 on a congested day. Recreationists leaving the Garden Valley area may want to use Idaho 21 to return to the Treasure Valley.
If you choose to use Idaho 55 when congestion is heaviest, be patient and plan an extra hour or two for your return trip.