Submitted by Ken Watts.
The City of Island Park held a working meeting on the US 20 highway project on November 2, 2022. The meeting was attended by the mayor, three city council members, the three 2023 District 31 legislators, a host of people from the Idaho Transportation Department, and ITD contractors. It is very clear that there was no pause in the project by ITD. ITD simply delayed the public meetings by a couple of months to December 5th and 6th and are planning a meeting with Island Park businesses on November 15th. Further evidence that there was no pause in the project is the fact that ITD and its contractors are flying drones over public and private property along US 20. A complaint has been filed regarding this action by a private citizen. The mayor asked what criteria was used to propose a four lane freeway in Island Park. The answer was that was a need for additional capacity based on traffic projections. No data was provided by ITD to support that contention. There was considerable discussion about intersections in Island Park. Much of this discussion was centered on the intersection of Yale-Kilgore Road and US 20 (Elk Creek). ITD said they were willing to implement an interim solution at this intersection if the City and County could agree on a solution. A City council member stated that Brandon Harris (County Road and Bridge) believes that a traffic signal would be appropriate at this location. This interim project could be funded in FY-2028. It is important to note that there are wetlands on both sides of this intersection. ITD stated that any interim solutions would have to be compatible with their longer term plans, presumably a 4 lane freeway. There was some discussion about the need to have 4 lanes at the stop light to allow for “stacking” of traffic. (Room is needed for the vehicles.) This may not be all bad because the 4 lanes at the stop light could act like a passing lane when the light turns green. Councilman Ard pointed out that US Highway 97 south of Bend, Oregon, toward Crater Lake National Park, uses alternating passing lanes (super 2) between commercial areas and 4 lanes with stop lights in the commercial areas. There are many commercial areas and passing lanes. Councilman Ard pointed out that this area is much like Island Park in that it is close to a National Park, and a National Monument, has very heavy recreational traffic, and heavy truck traffic. I have driven this road many times and the configuration works very well. This configuration supports business activity and allows for safe intersections. ITD clearly still supports a 4 lane freeway. They spent some time addressing issues with an alternating passing lanes highway design (super 2). They focused on snow removal and conflicts when traffic merges at the end of the passing lane. This is curious because ITD already plows 8+ passing lanes and JUB Engineers reports that accidents on US 20 in the Caldera are below the State average and well below the national average. ITD stated that winter traffic will reach the levels of summer traffic. An ITD corridor report states that summer traffic volume is 500% higher than winter traffic volume. ITD predicts that traffic will increase about 3% linearly per year. Therefore it would take 167 years (500%/3% per year=167years) before the winter traffic volume equals the current summer traffic volume. ITD did not mention the numerous shortcomings of a 4 lane, limited access, high speed freeway in an environmentally sensitive recreational area. The mayor made it clear that he does not support the freeway concept. Representative Furniss stated the process must be transparent, follow the process, allow input by all, fair, and no voice should be ignored. He further stated that the ITD Board will make the decision. Senator Burtenshaw stated that the Governor came to Island Park to assure transparency.
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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
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