AASHTO Journal, 23 October 2015
The Idaho Transportation Department is reporting back to state residents on how many road and bridge projects it has launched since the Legislature voted last spring to raise more revenue for infrastructure upgrades.
The ITD said it is completing the first projects paid for with that funding increase, “less than six months after allocating funds from the first transportation-revenue increase in nearly two decades.”
NessIn April, lawmakers voted to raise the state’s per-gallon user fee on motor fuels by 7 cents a gallon effective July 1, and to raise a wide array of vehicle registration fees.
The measures were expected to generate an additional $94 million a year.
Later, ITD Director Brian Ness told Transportation TV that he also liked a provision the Legislature added that for two years will allow surplus money in the state’s general fund to be spent on transportation projects.
While that still leaves the ITD short of the additional $262 million it has said it will need each year, the new funds allowed it to add some projects during the 2015 construction season.
Gov. Butch Otter signed the measures into law on April 21, and the Idaho Transportation Board voted May 21 to advance critical projects for state highways and bridges that would tap the new revenue.
The department identified an initial group of projects valued at $46.8 million, and said another $2.4 million in road and bridge work will be added after that first group is built, for an estimated $49.2 million in early construction work.
Projects were selected based on their readiness, whether it involved bridge restoration or preservation, and for pavement rehabilitation or preservation.
The work includes a pair of safety-enhancement projects being completed in north-central Idaho, and a project in south-central Idaho that extended the roadway’s lifespan to give drivers a smoother surface and better ride.
Three bridge-preservation projects in northern Idaho are also nearly complete, the department said in an Oct. 6 update.
“ITD was ready to implement these new projects as soon as the money was available because our staff plans five years ahead,” Ness said in a press release.
“This forward thinking allowed us to quickly reinvest the revenue increase creating jobs, enhancing economic opportunity and, most importantly, improving safety for our citizens. Now that we’ve advanced these projects, it allows us to move up other critically needed road and bridge projects in the planning process.”
The department included a map of the “new revenue projects” it was undertaking around Idaho.
Besides those now being completed, the ITD said more will be completed before the end of this year, and work on the remaining projects is scheduled to begin next spring and summer.