Submitted by Ken Watts
Over the past few weeks Ken’s Korner, with help from the Island Park Preservation Coalition, has been studying Idaho Transportation Department planning documents for US Highway 20 between Ashton and SH 87 near the Montana border. A total of 10 Ken’s Korner articles have been written with the observations of this study effort. This was a time consuming process because of the volume of information that was reviewed. The purpose of this article is to summarize the observations so that you may be better informed on US 20 planning and understand the issues. The observations will be provided in a numerical listing for your convenience and easy use. 1. Traffic accident data (from a 12,342 cell spreadsheet) from 2015 to 2019 shows no trend toward more annual fatality accidents. The rate is or about average for Idaho. The data does not seem to reveal any systemic deficiencies in road design. 2. The same spread sheet shows no trend toward more annual injury or property damage accidents and no increase in the severity of these accidents. 3. The ITD data do not reveal a trend toward more annual wildlife or domestic animal accidents. (My conservation friends believe the ITD data underestimates the number of animal accidents. The ITD data is “reported” accidents.) 4. ITD changed the purpose and need statement which focused on accidents to include the environment and future traffic needs. 5. ITD did not share two traffic reports with the public at the public meetings in Island Park. Information from a third traffic report, that was published in February 2022, was also not shared at the public meetings but the information was likely available. This third traffic report has many very questionable assumptions and used a bogus computer program to predict levels of service on the highway. This report also calls for a four lane road, increased speeds, less access, and road configuration/alignment changes. 6. The “Preliminary Traffic Operations Report” included totally bogus predictions of level of service in Island Park. This is evident from the ridiculous speeds calculated by the bogus computer program that was used. During peak hours, this program calculates ~30 mph speeds in Island Park in 2021. Nonsense. 7. Three different methods were used to predict traffic volume for use in designing the highway. The first method was conservative, the second method used a common approach, and the third (2022) used a very liberal approach resulting in lower predicted levels of service. 8. Island Park was told by ITD that they were starting from scratch on the design of the highway. That was not true. There was a traffic report in the works that recommended a four-lane, high speed, limited access highway. The governor announced a four lane highway during a campaign stop in Ashton. 9. Accident rates on US 20 from Ashton to SH 87 are lower than the Idaho average and significantly lower (3 times lower) than the US average. 10. Can the same company responsible for the traffic study profit from predictions of higher traffic volumes on US 20 from Ashton to Targhee Pass? The answer is absolutely! The more complex the road design, the more money that can be made by the contractor. ITD will likely hold another US 20 Ashton to SH 87 public meeting in May 2022. Hopefully the information provided here and over the last 10 weeks will make you a more informed participant.
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Submitted by Ken Watts
The following is an Idaho Transportation Department request for proposal. Note that this includes Targhee Pass and does not stop at SH 87. “REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR US20 CORRIDOR FROM ASHTON TO TARGHEE PASS PROJECT NO. A023(229) KEY NO. 23229. May 19, 2021. US20 Corridor from Ashton to Targhee Pass. GENERAL INFORMATION PROPOSAL The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) is seeking qualified and experienced respondents from interested firms to submit a proposal to provide project planning and development services for the US-20 Ashton to Targhee Pass in Fremont County. Final design through PS&E services and Engineer of Record services may be included under a separate phase or contract, at ITD’s sole discretion.” It is critical to note that this “planning” contract can be expanded to include design and engineering services. So the bigger the project scope, the more money the contractor can make. You can make a lot more money from a 4 lane road design than from a 2 lane road design. This allows the “fox in the hen house”. The same company (Horrocks Engineers) that is predicting higher traffic volumes on US 20, can profit from these questionable predictions. Remember this quote from the February 2022, US 20 Ashton to SH 87 traffic study: “Traffic data used to calculate the Level of Service was collected in 2018 and a 3.4% linear growth rate was applied to each location to project to the year of 2021 and to the horizon year of 2050. Because this roadway has high seasonal fluctuations in traffic volume, the peak hour volumes were selected based on the average four highest months (June-September).” This approach results in a very liberal method of determining design traffic volume. This method is much more liberal than in the previous two traffic studies. This results in very suspect determinations of inadequate levels of service for the roadway. Did you connected the dots? Can the same company responsible for the traffic study profit from predictions of higher traffic volumes on US 20 from Ashton to Targhee Pass? The answer is absolutely! The more complex the road design, the more money that can be made by the contractor. There is recent history, in Idaho, of contractors profiting in similar ways. Consider the following from an Idaho Statesman investigative report: — Companies that are responsible for checking the quality of Idaho’s road materials have altered the results of their asphalt tests thousands of times, government documents show. Those changes may have allowed contractors that repair and build Idaho’s highway infrastructure to get bonus payments when they should have been penalized for substandard work — or even forced to tear up the asphalt and replace it…..Most of Idaho’s tests are performed by private contractors, since the state cut back on resources it needed to run them in-house, said Bill Fogg, a senior technician who retired from ITD in 2016. “In my opinion, especially towards the end (of my career) there, and I flat told management there ... ‘You guys have given the keys of the hen house right into the fox’s hands, because you privatized too much of this,’” Fogg told the Statesman in an interview in January. (One of the companies that was investigated by the federal government, was Horrocks Engineers, according to the Idaho Statesman.) Submitted by Ken Watts
Accident data provided by the Idaho Transportation Department reveals that there is no trend for more fatality or injury accidents on US 20 between Ashton and SH 87. Research also reveals that the accident rate is below the Idaho average for a road of this type. This was reported in Ken’s Korner several weeks ago. Now we learn that the accident rate on US 20 between Ashton and SH 87 is far below the national average. This is documented in an October 18, 2019, J-U-B Engineers, Inc. report to ITD. The report is titled “US 20 Passing Lanes – Revised Existing Conditions and 2042 No-Build Traffic Analysis (Part 1)”. The report states the following: “Crash Data & Analysis. J-U-B completed a crash analysis using the latest available 5-year (2013-2017) data. A summary of the crash data is included in Appendix C. Based on the data collected, there was a total of 183 crashes within the study area, equivalent to an average crash rate of approximately 47 crashes per 100 million average vehicle miles traveled (AVMT) between 2013 and 2017. Segment 1 (MP 369 - MP 377) had 67 crashes with a crash rate of 59.1 crashes per 100 million average vehicle-miles travelled. Segment 2 (MP 377 – 387) had 66 crashes with a crash rate of 42.9 crashes per 100 million average vehicle-miles travelled. Segment 3 (MP 387 -MP 395) had 50 crashes with a crash rate of 40.5 crashes per 100 million average vehicle-miles travelled. The crash data analyzed is summarized by severity and crash type in Figure 2 and Figure 3, respectively. The overall study area crash rate and individual segment crash rates are significantly lower than the U.S. and State Highways year 2017 statewide average crash rate of 154.5 crashes per 100 million VMT. The crash rates are also lower than the year 2017 average crash rate of 87.36 crashes per 100 million AVMT for rural roadways (both interstate and non-interstate) in Idaho during this same time period.” Let that sink in! The crash rate on US 20 is over 3 times less than the national average for a road of this type! It is not even close! Remember that ITD’s purpose and need statement led us to believe that the crash rate was going up and that this was a significant issue. Were you misled? You decide. Also remember that you were told that congestion is an issue. Is it? This issue will be examined next week plus a look at conflicts of interest for contractors. |
Making Sense of It All
This blog will help you make sense out of all the information on the website, how it affects IP, our history, and how efforts continue to put IP into various forms of conservation status. Archives
May 2023
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