Submitted by Ken Watts On Friday, October 14, 2022, the Island Park Preservation Coalition hosted the second community meeting on the design of US Highway 20 from Ashton to SH 87 (See PowerPoint presentation in previous post). The meeting was attended by about 70 people. You may recall that the first community meeting on US 20 was held in May of 2022. In that meeting, there was unanimous opposition to a four lane, high speed, limited access freeway in the Island Park Caldera. The attendees supported a super 2 highway design with alternating passing lanes, wider lanes, wider shoulders, etc. The Idaho Transportation Department was only advancing freeway alternatives. This angered many people in the community and was unacceptable.
ITD had planned a forth public meeting in September to advance their freeway concepts. Appeals by the community, to leaders at many state and local levels, resulted in the project being “paused”. ITD said the “pause” would be for several months. Perhaps you received a postcard in the mail stating this. This “pause” would allow the community to develop a “community solution” for the highway design. Therefore the IPPC hosted a second meeting to plan the community solution that could be advanced to decision makers. A committee was formed to look at current improvements like the tree cut back, the highway design, intersection design, and other features. There were many volunteers. This is a large undertaking by the community, if it is done right, and is properly documented, referenced, and reviewed. The proposal, done right, can be done by the spring of 2023. Some of the super 2 design work has already been done by ITD contractors at a cost of over $3.2M. The ITD funded JUB Engineers study is a great starting point for the community proposal. There is a problem, however. At the community meeting last Friday, ITD said they were planning a public meeting in December 2022. This is NOT the “several” month “pause” that ITD promised in their postcard to the public. This is UNACCEPTABLE! It is also DISINGENUOUS! Our elected representatives must stop this travesty. You should write your elected representatives and voice your displeasure. More importantly, write to the members of the ITD Board. They control the money. At the end of the PowerPoint in the previous post there are individuals to contact requesting ITD extend its meeting until May, 2023. Contacting the ITD Board members is best. A photo of the meeting follows.
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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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