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Board to begin business meeting with tour
of traffic management center, State Comm

Idaho Transportation Board members will get a first-hand look at Treasure Valley traffic and a program to monitor it when they tour the Ada County Highway District’s traffic management center Wednesday.

The board also will tour the State Communications (State Comm) center in Meridian in the afternoon. Both agencies partner with ITD in addressing traffic crashes by assisting with clearing crash sites and keeping traffic flowing safely. State Comm, which is part of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, also dispatches emergency vehicles to crash sites and is instrumental in updating ITD’s 511 Traveler Services website.

During the business meeting on Thursday at Headquarters, the board will visit the Enterprise Technology Services Section. The visit is part of the board’s concerted effort to tour the Headquarters’ complex to meet employees, learn about specific work and responsibilities, hear about efficiencies that have been achieved, and become familiar with the physical layout of the complex.

Other board agenda items

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Report
The 2009 federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA, also known as the federal stimulus program) resulted in $217.7 million for Idaho transportation projects. Of those additional resources, $181.9 million was for state and local highway projects. The governor’s discretionary program provided local agencies with an additional $17.4 million for road and bridge projects. The remaining $18.4 million was dedicated to public transportation.

ITD staff members will summarize the projects that were funded, deadlines, characteristics and regulations for the three programs.

Of the 36 projects on the state highway system, including enhancement projects, 21 have been completed. The remaining projects have been awarded.

The local agency and public transportation projects are at various stages, from completed to submittal of plans, specifications, and estimates.

Some of the public transportation projects include the purchase of vehicles, and construction of bus turnouts, bus shelters and park-and-ride facilities.

Addition of a public transit project to the STIP
The Shoshone-Bannock Tribe obtained a Bus and Bus Facilities Livability grant of $125,000. The Federal Transit Administration grant would be used to upgrade an existing building and house four transit buses along with drivers and dispatchers. It also would be used to fence the building to secure the buses and other properties. The board will be asked to approve the addition of this project to the FY11 Capital Investment Program.