Submitted by Ken Watts
Approximately 70 members of the Island Park/Fremont County community met twice to discuss a design solution for improvements to US 20 Ashton to SH 87 near the Montana border. A decision was made to form a proposal committee. 17 members of the community agreed to be on the committee. The proposal was developed over several months and is about 50 pages long. It is not practical to publish the entire proposal in the Island Park News. However the executive summary from the proposal can be published for your use and information. Ken’s Korner is publishing a 3 part series that will contain the entire executive summary. The entire proposal is being sent to decision makers in the area and the State and will also be sent to news outlets across the State. The following is the second part of the series: 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The traffic studies being used by ITD are old, incomplete, not conducted during high traffic volume months and contain many fudge factors to try to make them relevant. In addition, the studies are often contradictory. New, detailed, comprehensive traffic studies are needed that are done by contractors who are independent and cannot bid on the construction contracts. US 20 Ashton to SH 87 is a seasonal recreational highway. According to JUB Engineers, traffic volume varies by 500% from summer to winter. Traffic volume is high a very small percentage of time. The accident rate is below the State average and about 1/3 the national average. This highway is safer than most. ITD’s purpose and need statements for US 20 from Ashton to SH 87 are incomplete. Their purpose and need statements are done at the project level. They address things like congestion, travel time, and safety. But what is the purpose and need for this highway segment? There are three primary uses for this highway. First, this highway segment provides a primary travel route for southeastern Idaho traffic and provides the sole travel artery for local Island Park and Fremont County residents living in the larger Island Park community. Second, US 20 provides one of many ways for tourists to travel to and throughout the area to enjoy many recreational activities including two state parks, as well as providing access to the pass-through traveling public to and from Yellowstone National Park/West Yellowstone, Montana. Third, US 20 is a freight route that allows goods and services to be provided to the Island Park area, and serves as a shorter alternative route to I-90 for travel beyond to Montana and also into Canada. These needs can safely and efficiently be provided for all users of the roadway by upgrading the current footprint, while providing economic benefits to Fremont County and the community of Island Park, without destroying it. When considering the focus of purpose for all Idaho roadways, ITD should remain committed to Idaho’s road “safety, mobility, and economic opportunity”, not Montana’s. By proposing a 4 lane highway, ITD is principally focusing on the economic benefits beyond Idaho and will spend precious Idaho transportation resources and tax dollars in doing so. Such a massive footprint will cause many detrimental impacts to the city and larger community of Island Park which is bisected by the existing roadway and insults the ecological and pristine nature of Island Park. Recreation is the economic engine for Island Park. Tourist and recreational traffic do provide economic value, when Island Park is the destination of travelers. Trucks and Yellowstone tourist traffic mostly pass through the larger recreation area and certainly through the city of Island Park. Including the freight route and Yellowstone tourist traffic elements into the purpose and need for this roadway add marginal economic value to Idaho and very little to Island Park.
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Submitted by Ken Watts.
Approximately 70 members of the Island Park/Fremont County community met twice to discuss a design solution for improvements to US 20 Ashton to SH 87 near the Montana border. A decision was made to form a proposal committee. 17 members of the community agreed to be on the committee. The proposal was developed over several months and is about 50 pages long. It is not practical to publish the entire proposal in the Island Park News. However the executive summary from the proposal can be published for your use and information. Ken’s Korner will publish a 3 part series that will contain the entire executive summary. The proposal is being sent to decision makers in the area and the State and will also be sent to news outlets across the State. The following is the first part of the series: 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Idaho Transportation Department has initiated the Planning and Environmental Linkages process for upgrades to US Highway 20 from Ashton to State Highway 87. ITD quickly down selected the design options for the highway to only include four lane options with virtually no involvement from the public on the selection committee. January 2020 notes from an ITD Board meeting reveal that the Chief Operating Officer for ITD stated that ideally this highway should be four lanes and subsequent board meeting notes progressively reveal ITD D6 positioning to pursue multiple lanes leading up to October 2021 and the PEL initiation. These comments are considered pre-decisional which is prohibited by the National Environmental Policy Act. ITD had completed a study in 2020 that determined that adding passing lanes was an acceptable approach for meeting the highway purpose and need to 2042 and beyond. This study was withheld from the public. A public records request was used to get the study. Residents of the Island Park and Fremont County were very displeased with the conduct of the PEL process. A community meeting was held in June of 2022 to discuss the highway design. The meeting was attended by about 70 people and elected representatives. The people, by a show of hands, unanimously opposed a four lane freeway in the Island Park area. There was near unanimous support for a “Super 2” highway design that adds passing lanes and widens shoulders. This information was given to ITD but ITD continued the four lane march in spite of the adamant public opposition. The community held a second meeting in September 2022 to discuss the situation. At that meeting, the attendees (~70) agreed to prepare a community proposal (this proposal) for the highway. The proposal would recommend a Super 2 highway design based on the design work already completed by JUB Engineers in 2020, at a cost of $3.24M to the State of Idaho. The proposal would be prepared for the ITD Board because the Board controls the highway funding. Submitted by Ken Watts
Another records request of the Idaho Transportation Department reveals that the Chief Operations Officer does not support freeway interchanges on US 20 Ashton to SH 87. This would mean that all intersections in Island Park, at the busier intersections, would be on grade. This approach would mandate stop lights or roundabouts for safety. It is interesting to note that most of ITD’s high speed, limited access, 4 lane, freeway options included interchanges or bypasses of Island Park. Of course the bypasses will destroy Island Park businesses. Ashton has demanded an economic study be conducted to look at the impacts of the highway redesign. Economic analyses are required by the Planning and Environmental Linkages process. Hopefully Island Park will join Ashton in requesting the required economic analysis. Note that COO McElhinney may also be saying that community support of the freeway is required. Of course members of the community are not supporting a 4 lane freeway, but rather adding additional passing lanes (a Super 2 design). The email on interchanges follows: From: Dan McElhinney <[email protected]> Sent on: Tuesday, August 30, 2022 11:59:51 PM To: Jason Minzghor <[email protected]>; Karen Hiatt <[email protected]> CC: Blake Rindlisbacher <[email protected]>; Amy Schroeder <[email protected]> Subject: US 20 options Thank you for meeting today with Blake and I. We don’t support the PEL alternative for freeway access control and freeway interchanges configuration from north of Ashton to state line - which seems beyond the projected traffic needs within 20 years. We do note with community support that likely the four lanes highway option (two lanes each direction) on existing or adjusted alignment, possibly divided by a median, is more feasible and fundable (sic) for program consideration. Let’s meet again to review the draft PEL project benefits and recent traffic report/crash data north of Ashton in more detail later this week? Also what other interim projects could be considered? We will send a shorter list of questions/topics tomorrow as discussed. Thank you. Dan Dan McElhinney, P.E. ITD Chief Deputy/COO Submitted by Ken Watts
Ken’s Korner supports education, especially science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. STEM education is critical to the prosperity of our country. Fremont County Joint School District #215 is proposing a 20 year, $59,980,000 school bond. The vote on this bond will occur on March 14, 2023. The total payoff cost for this bond is estimated to be $83,507,800 if the interest rate is 3.73%. $46,790, 942 (78%) of the bond is designated for South Fremont High School improvements and expansion. This includes the following: 999 seat auditorium, ticket office, drama classroom, dressing and restroom facility, auxiliary gym with full court sidelines, wrestling room with mats, laundry, renovated weight room, career technical education section featuring classrooms, welding, wood shops, etc., family consumer science, renovation to art, special education, kitchen, and resource rooms, entrance/administrative offices, counseling offices, secure vestibule, and security office. In Ashton, $5,803,431 would be spent for career technical education (vocational education) at the North Fremont High School and other improvements. $6,207,450 would be spent for a multipurpose gym at the Henry’s Fork Elementary School. Therefore a total of $12,010,881 (20%) would be spent in North Fremont. $1,178,177 (2%) is allocated for miscellaneous expenditures (HVAC,ADA, electrical). 0% (none) would be spent to support the Island Park charter school ( a premiere school in the state). It is estimated that the bond will cost property owners $137 per year per $100,000 of assessed property value. In Island Park, small homes are selling for ~$300K, midsized homes are selling for $500K, and larger homes are selling for $1M or more. Therefore the annual assessment would be $411, $685, and $1,370 respectively. Over the 20 year term of the bond, the cost would be $8,220, $13,700, and $27,400 respectively. Some people estimate that Island Park would pay 60 to 70% of the bond costs. This is similar to property taxes. Are Island Park property owners being treated fairly when only 20% of the funding will be spent in North Fremont while 78% will be spent in South Fremont and none in Island Park? Let’s consider the language in the ballot. The ballot does not reveal that a large portion of the funds will be expended on 999 seat auditorium, two gyms, a renovated weight room, a wrestling room, administration offices, etc. This is important information for the voters. It is excellent that funding will be spent on career technical education (vocational education). These are skills that are desperately needed in Idaho and the nation. STEM should be the focus of this bond. Submitted by Ken Watts
The November 2022 issue of Fall River Flashes had two very good articles. One was in regard to breaching the 4 lower Snake River dams and the other in regard to the installation of charging stations for electric vehicles. The article on breaching the dams has a graph that shows a profound increase in the number of salmon and steelhead counted at the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The article states: “All the Lower Snake river Dams have been modernized with multiple fish passage systems including fish ladders, advanced technology turbines, fish screens, and spillways that allow salmon to pass upstream and down with minimal impact.” Breaching the dams would have a very significant impact on the economy of Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington. The environmental impact of replacing the stored water, the carbon free energy, and the transportation infrastructure would be enormous. You may recall that Idaho congressional representative, Mike Simpson, has proposed breaching the dams. The Idaho Conservation League is currently making a push to breach the dams. You may also recall that it was Congressman Simpson and the ICL that sold out the people of Custer County over the Boulder-White Clouds wilderness. Now they are attempting to sell out the people of Northern Idaho. On the second topic, FRREC “is helping create an electric vehicle fast-charging network along major corridors in the Intermountain West”. “The kickoff event was held in Island Park, Idaho, to highlight the fact that Fall River will receive nearly $865,000 in grants from the state to install five DC fast chargers in three locations to serve members and visitors.” Governor Brad Little was at the kickoff event, so one could reasonably assume that the grant is coming from the “state” of Idaho. If you do the math, you will find that the tax payers of Idaho, (presumably) are paying $173,000 per charging station. That is some “righteous bucks” so that a dude from California can charge his Tesla! We all know that electric vehicle perform very poorly in cold weather. I was recently talking to a lady who drove her KIA EV6 from Denver to Mesa, in January. Both she and her husband were employed by KIA. They were able to purchase the EV6 at MSRP because they worked for KIA. The average person has to pay about $20,000 over MSRP to get this car. I asked the lady if she had charging anxiety before and during the trip. She said they planned the trip very carefully because of the cold weather and the need to go over 10,000 foot mountain passes. They traveled during the day so that they did not have to use their headlights. They used their seat warmers for heat rather than the car heater system. They also wore heavy boots to keep their feet warm. Wonder if they turned on the stereo? I did not ask. They made it to Mesa OK. Sounds like a delightful trip, doesn’t it!!!! Submitted by Ken Watts
The following is a portion of an article written by Margaret Carmel of BoiseDev on February 7, 2023. With the heavy snow load and the seismic activity in Island Park, the county building inspector can be your best friend. Fortunately Fremont County has a very good inspector. A Boise man filed suit against the City of Boise last fall alleging gross negligence after its Planning & Development Services department failed to address changes in building plans to his house or notice major code violations before giving it a certificate of occupancy. On September 9, Alexander Abel filed a complaint in Ada County’s Fourth District Court against the City of Boise seeking damages after he says the city failed to accurately review changes to building plans he submitted to build a home, check for proper structural engineering calculations and didn’t do a thorough enough inspection to catch “glaring” errors before signing off on the final product. In the summer of 2018, Abel said he hired Flynner Homes to design and build a home for himself and his mother to live in. He applied for a building permit and submitted a set of construction plans and other documents prepared by Flynner. These plans included structural calculations completed by a structural engineer to accompany them for building permit staff to review. Abel later parted ways with Flynner before the building permit was issued and the company notified the city they were no longer affiliated with the project in November…… Christensen Homes then altered the construction drawings and created plans for the house with “very significant changes” from the plans originally submitted to the city. These plans included changing the foundation from a concrete slab to a crawl space, reorienting the home and increasing the size to 6 bedrooms. However, despite the changes, Abel says Christen Homes never submitted any new structural calculations to the city and the city never required them to be submitted, the complaint alleged. “Despite there being very obvious and significant structural differences between the Christensen Plans and the Flynner Plans, the city unexplainably relied upon the Flynner Structural Calculations when reviewing and approving the Christensen Plans,” the complaint said. In July 2019, Abel got a building permit and Christensen Homes started work on the project. Between that summer and November 5, 2020, Abel says the city “purportedly” sent its inspectors to the home several times to check if the builder was following the approved plans and building codes. “During the numerous inspections, the City’s inspectors failed to recognize the open and obvious inconsistencies between the construction being performed and the Approved Plans,” the complaint said. The final property inspection before issuing a certification of occupancy was completed on September 10, 2020. A certificate of occupancy was issued that day and officially verified on October 16, 2020, even though Abel says the home did not meet the requirements of the International Residential Code or International Building Code and were not built according to the construction plans. Afterward, Abel hired an outside consultant to inspect the home and learned there were “many code violations” that should have prevented it from being issued safe to live in. On November 5, 2020, Abel says city officials visited the home and confirmed there were numerous code violations in the house and several were missed during the final inspection. Submitted by Ken Watts
The following article was written by Allen Zhong from the Epoch Times. The results of the study are not intuitive and therefore fact checking is warranted. The cost to fuel electric vehicles (EV) in the United States is higher than the cost to fuel gas-powered cars for the first time in 18 months, a consulting company said. “In Q4 2022, typical mid-priced ICE [Internal Combustion Engine] car drivers paid about $11.29 to fuel their vehicles for 100 miles of driving. That cost was around $0.31 cheaper than the amount paid by mid-priced EV drivers charging mostly at home, and over $3 less than the cost borne by comparable EV drivers charging commercially,” Anderson Economic Group (AEG) said in an analysis. However, luxury EVs still enjoy a cost advantage over their gas-powered counterparts. It costs luxury EV owners $12.40 to drive every 100 miles on average if they charge their cars mostly at home, or $15.95 if they charge their cars mostly at commercial charger stations, according to the fourth-quarter data. Meanwhile, the fuel costs for luxury gas-powered cars are $19.96 per 100 miles on average. AEG, a consulting firm based in Michigan, offers research and consulting in economics, valuation, market analysis, and public policy, according to the company’s website. The fuel costs in the analysis are based on real-world U.S. driving conditions, including the cost of underlying energy, state taxes charged for road maintenance, the cost of operating a pump or charger, and the cost to drive to a fueling station, AEG said. Crashed Low-Mileage Teslas (are) Often Too Expensive to Fix. Insurance carriers are sending low-mileage Tesla Model Ys to salvage auctions because they’re too expensive to repair. Of more than 120 Model Ys that were totaled after collisions and listed at auction in December and early January, the vast majority had fewer than 10,000 miles on the odometer, according to a Reuters analysis based on online data from Copart and IAA, the two largest salvage auction houses in the United States. Copart and IAA auction listings note whether the vehicles were involved in front, rear, or side collisions, and typically include after-crash photos of each vehicle. But the listings don’t disclose specific details on the type of damage suffered. Copart listings in some cases included the names of the insurance companies that had bought back the crashed vehicles before listing them at auction. Those companies include State Farm, Geico, Progressive, and Farmers. Geico is a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Idaho saw a reduction in traffic fatalities in 2022. Last year, 219 people were killed in crashes on Idaho roads, according to preliminary data from the Idaho Office of Highway Safety (OHS). This represents a 19% decrease from 2021, where there were 271 deaths on Idaho roads.
“It is nice to see progress, but 219 distinct tragedies show we still have a lot of work to do,” said OHS Manager Josephine Middleton. ‘These deaths have a profound impact on families, friends, and communities. We want to work with partners across the state to prevent future tragedies.’ ‘We certainly want to see that number move lower and lower but it is a good step in the right direction,’ said Ellen Mattila, a spokeswoman with ITD. ‘We did see a jump in seatbelt use. Office of Highway Safety does an observational seatbelt survey every summer, and we saw an increase in seatbelt use over previous years so we think that is a really good, positive trend.’ ITD reports: More Idahoans are making the safe choice to wear their seat belts. The Idaho Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is pleased to report that statewide seat belt use rose to 87.6% in 2022, an increase of nearly 5% over last year. In 2021, Idaho’s seat belt use was 82.9%. ‘This increase in seat belt use is a good sign for Idaho because seat belts save lives,’ said OHS Occupant Protection Program Manager Tabitha Smith. ‘We want everyone to buckle up. One click can save your life.’ Seat belts increase your chances of surviving a crash by nearly 50%. Despite the effectiveness of seat belts and the high usage rate, failing to buckle up is one of the most common contributing factors in traffic fatalities. Last year, 103 people who were killed in motor vehicle crashes were not wearing seat belts – that is 38% of all fatalities in 2021. “That simple action of clicking your seat belt is one of the easiest things you can do to stay safe. I’m happy that most Idahoans buckle up, but we still can still do better” It should be noted that 2021, the COVD breakout year for driving, was a higher fatality year. There were so many bad behaviors on the road. Lots of aggressive driving and speeding has been witnessed across the State and in Island Park. The first draft of the “community” proposal for the design of US 20 Ashton to SH 87 has been completed by the proposal committee (17 members of the community). In an effort to inform public about the contents of the proposal, Ken’s Korner is publishing sections of the proposal. It is hoped that you will provide feedback and offer your ideas to the committee so that the proposal can be improved. This week a portion of the section on wildlife is being published for your use. The committee proposed several innovative solutions for the highway design.
“Island Park is home for multiple species of wildlife. Wildlife are resident and transitory within this unique habitat. The Sand Creek Elk herd resides primarily on the west side of US 20, dispersing throughout the Island Park region and in the fall centralizing in and near Harriman State Park to stage to move to the lower desert for the winter season. There is some cross movement of animals near US 20, and rarely a longer journey animal will join a herd and enter Yellowstone, as evidenced in IDFG collar data…….. There is no ancient migratory Sand Hills Elk herd that must navigate across US 20 to complete a yearly migration. IDFG collar data will verify that the majority of the herd remains on the west side of US 20,….. Mule deer do migrate from the lower desert in spring, through Island Park and into the high country in the summer, and return the journey in the fall. The Ashton Hill area is the hotspot area for mule deer when they do this crossing during approximately 3 weeks in both spring and summer….. The following should be considered when looking at wildlife and vehicles:
Submitted by Ken Watts
Perhaps you heard on the news this past week that the Biden Administration wants to block funding for new highways. Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, who manages the Federal Highway Administration, says that highways are smog and climate-change generators. In a memo, FHWA urged staffers not to fund projects that “add new general purpose travel lanes”. Making US 20 Ashton to SH 87 a four lane freeway, would be adding travel lanes. Maybe Secretary Buttigieg is an ally in the Island Park communities’ opposition to the freeway. Ken’s Korner checked the news sources and found an article from the Wall Street Journal that substantiated the reports. A portion of the WSJ article follows: “The Biden Administration is trying to block new infrastructure spending from funding new highways. Thanks to a Senate intervention, major upgrades could be coming to a highway near you—but only if enough lawmakers follow through. The Administration’s plan to restrict new highways began after President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill in 2021. Nineteen GOP Senators backed that spending blowout in hope of bringing home billions of dollars for state projects, specifically roads and bridges. But a month later the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) sent a memo to staffers urging them to deny competitive grants to projects that “add new general purpose travel lanes”—aka new roads. The guidance mimics restrictions that were offered by then-Rep. Peter DeFazio and expressly rejected by a House with a Democratic majority. Senate Republicans challenged the FHWA memo, and last month the Government Accountability Office (GAO) agreed that the guidance was an executive-branch overreach. “We conclude the Memo is a rule,” the GAO said in a report, finding that the policy exceeded the FHWA’s mandate. Reclassifying the guidance as a formal rule means Congress will get a chance to revoke it under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The stakes are high because the FHWA will award billions of dollars in competitive grants over five years. State officials know that adding highway lanes is often the best way to reduce congestion and boost safety, but they’ll turn their attention elsewhere if the Biden Administration’s rule is left in place. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who oversees the FHWA, thinks highways are smog and climate-change generators, and he defended the restrictions in a Senate hearing last March.” If the FHWA rule is not revoked, it may not even be possible to add passing lanes to US 20 Ashton to SH 87. We would be left with the no build option only. |
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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