Submitted by Ken Watts
The Idaho Transportation Department has canceled the public meetings on the US 20 Ashton to SH 87 project. The meetings were scheduled for September 28th and 29th in Ashton and Island Park respectively. The project is being re-evaluated by ITD, based on recent discussions with the stakeholders and others. Apparently, the stakeholders will have more input to the process in the future. This delay will give the Ashton and Island Park communities time to develop community based solutions for the road segments. You can read about the meeting, which led to the delay, elsewhere in this edition of the IP News. The Island Park Preservation Coalition will host another community meeting in October to develop community based solutions for the highway. You will recall, that in the last community meeting, there was unanimous support for an upgraded two lane highway in the Caldera. The suggested upgrades included more passing lanes, wider lanes, wider shoulders, rumble strips, tree cut back, and some minor reduction in access. This design is sometimes called a 2+1 or sometimes called a super 2. This design can be found in other states. If you read Ken’s Korner on a regular basis, you will recall that ITD completed two studies that recommended the 2+1 configuration for US 20. One study was done by JUB Engineers and the other by Kittelson Associates. Governor Little has guaranteed that the community will be heard. We must come to the stakeholder meetings with solutions that are well thought out and preserve the character of the Caldera. The solutions must also address the key intersections in Island Park. A phased approach to improvements may be the best approach rather than a total upgrade occurring all at once. JUB Engineers has prioritized the passing lanes in their study so some of the work is already done. Simple improvements like a long south bound merge lane at the intersection of Yale-Kilgore Road and US 20 could provide immediate improvement to traffic flow and safety at a very reasonable cost. You can probably think of other examples. Please bring your ideas to the next community meeting. The 2+1 configuration is a solution that will serve the community for two or more decades. This approach does not result in an over-build of the highway and preserves the character and historical attributes of the Island Park Caldera.
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May 2023
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