This week marks the end of what has been a memorable year for all Idahoans. While 2020 has taught us many new terms like “mask up” and “social distancing” there is one phrase we’d like you to keep in mind for 2021 “hands-free Idaho.”
That’s because beginning Jan. 1, police across Idaho will begin issuing citations for drivers using a handheld device. The law took effect in July of this year after passing through the Idaho legislature in the spring.
This change will affect drivers across Idaho. Here are three things you need to know about the changes:
Police have been enforcing the law for nearly six months now
Yes, police will begin to issue citations on Jan. 1, but they have been enforcing the new law since July. Police have been able to enforce the law since the beginning by stopping distracted drivers. However, until now, violators who have been stopped were let off with a warning. Beginning Jan. 1, violators can be issued a fine starting at $75 and going as high as $300 for multiple offenses during a three year period.
This law replaces any local hands-free ordinances
Over the last several years, a patchwork of cities and counties have passed hands-free driving ordinances at the local level. This caused some confusion for drivers as they went from one jurisdiction to the next. Idaho’s hands-free law preempts all local ordinances meaning no matter where you drive in Idaho, the expectation is for you to be hands-free.
The law even applies at stop signs and traffic signals
This new law requires drivers to put away electronic devices while operating a motor vehicle on a public roadway. This includes while temporarily stopped at a traffic signal or a stop sign.
Hands-free driving is not risk-free driving. Drivers will still have to contend with other forms of distractions, but putting the phone away will help motorists be better prepared for whatever lies ahead on the road.
A pilot program on I-84 construction zones designed to increase efficient movement of people and commerce won a leadership award for enhancing safety through a key corridor.
The Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho (COMPASS) selected the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) Safety Patrols Program on I-84 as the winner for the “Leadership in Government, Canyon County” category for their annual Leadership in Motion awards.
The Safety Patrols pilot program was an idea introduced by ITD Emergency Management Planner Neal Murphy after seeing similar programs in other states. Murphy pitched the program to GARVEE Managers Amy Schroeder and Mark Campbell as a way to increase safety for emergency responders, construction workers, and the traveling public while ensuring traffic was able to flow at a steady pace.
“Mark and I coordinated with ITD Contracting Services to build a contract and worked through numerous issues before getting it to the Tow Association.” Murphy explained. “We also coordinated operations with Idaho State Police, ISP dispatch, and State Communications ensure ITD had a sound product to serve the traveling public. It was a team effort to make this happen and hopefully it will be a model for future Idaho construction projects in large cities.”
The service operates during weekday peak hours and as needed for special occasions such as traffic shifts or closures, holidays and public events. The services include assisting with breakdowns, accidents and law enforcement traffic assistance. Craig Parker is the primary contractor operating the tow. His goal is to remove the vehicle and occupants from the work zone and take them to a safe location off the interstate to enhance their safety while reducing traffic delays.
From the time the service began in December 2019 through August 2020, the Safety Service Patrol has completed 154 assists/tows. This includes 81 breakdowns, 44 accidents, and 29 law enforcement assists with zero serious injuries or stuck-by events.
In addition, ISP’s increased presence in this high priority construction corridor has resulted in an improvement in officer response times in the work zone. ISP has made 1,613 contacts and traveled 17,568 miles since the beginning of construction.
ITD was commended for providing prompt and safe response times to stranded motorists, reducing congestion and increasing reliability of travel times.
Idaho Transportation Department crews are completing emergency repairs to a section of Idaho Highway 45 after numerous potholes formed on the roadway.
Potholes continue to form between Deer Flat Road and Melba Road, an eight-mile stretch of ID-45. The damage is caused by water seeping under the surface, freezing – which pushes the pavement up – and thawing, leaving a void.
Crews excavate damaged pavement in preparation for a cold patch
The voided pavement then collapses under the weight of traffic.
The emergency repairs involve removing asphalt and debris from the hole, cutting out the damaged pavement, and filling the hole with an asphalt material designed for use during cold temperatures. Crews will close one lane of ID-45, controlling traffic with flaggers. Motorists should drive engaged and anticipate delays of no more than 15 minutes. Repair work is expected to take up to two or three days.
“We’ve been patching this section of highway to keep it together,” said Camilo Serrano, the ITD Maintenance Foreman for the area. “With the rain and snow we got, and temperatures dropping then warming up again, we’re seeing a lot of potholes forming. I’m hoping these patches will stick through the winter until we can come back in the spring with better repairs.”
This cold patch material is not as strong as typical asphalt and will only work for a short time. Normal asphalt is unavailable currently as no nearby asphalt mixing plant is operational this time of year due to seasonal conditions. ITD is developing a plan to complete longer-lasting repairs in the spring. The fix will be similar to the operation in 2017 to repair I-84 after many potholes formed during that year’s severe winter.
The Department has previously budgeted for major rehabilitation of the pavement from the Junction of ID-78 to Deer Flat Road, scheduled for 2025. The springtime repairs will be designed with the intent to keep the roadway in an acceptable condition until that time.
An avalanche hasn’t reached US-12 east of Kooskia since 2008, but another weather station placed in the corridor this fall will help staff experts better forecast when the next one could happen.
“You can’t just come up with a cookbook formula for avalanches,” said Bill Nicholson, the leader of ITD’s Avalanche Crew that was formed in 2000. “There are infinite number of variables. We evaluate the strength of the snow that’s on the ground and then evaluate the incoming stressors like rain, wind, snow and temperature fluctuations.”
The new station, placed at 3,639 feet, will collect information on such stressors every hour to be analyzed by the team in Lowman. The team mainly spends their time monitoring Idaho Highway 21 between Lowman and Stanley, which is nationally ranked as one of the most avalanche-prone highways and sees 20 to 50 avalanches reach the pavement each year.
Over the last decade US-12 has been closed fewer than ten times due to a considerable hazard and has a return interval of every five or ten years.
“That’s a hard number to understand,” Nicholson said. “There’s no guarantee that you will have an avalanche in that time frame. You could have two avalanches in one year, or you could have no avalanches for several years.”
Still Nicholson’s team will visit the region to maintain the stations at Powell and Bald Mountain and travel to the pass to be on standby during extreme weather events.
The steep slopes from milepost 125 to 138 are the most concerning, with gates installed at the zone’s edges. Each fall Nicholson leads training on avalanche beacons and protocol for closing the highway for Foreman Mark Schuster and his crew.
“Every operator wears a beacon that transmits his or her location while on duty,” Schuster said. “In the event that an employee gets caught in an avalanche, others will be able to use their own beacons to find them, even buried in 50 feet of snow.”
With data from the weather stations—and the one that will be installed next year at Castle Butte—experts aim to better forecast when it is time to close the highway.
The Idaho Transportation Department will be closing Idaho Highway 21 from Grandjean to Banner Summit tonight due to a high avalanche risk.
A weather system bringing rain and snow is likely to trigger avalanches in this section of highway. The anticipated closure will begin at 6 p.m. on December 20. However, actual weather impacts may require an earlier closure. Motorists needing to use the roadway are advised to make the trip immediately or plan to use alternate routes.
The alternate route between the Treasure Valley and Stanley area is to travel east on I-84, exit in Mountain Home at Exit 95 to U.S. 20, then head north on Idaho Highway 75.
The ITD Avalanche Crew monitors the snowpack along this section of highway in order to forecast the risk of avalanches large enough to reach the roadway. This practice allows the Department to keep the highway open during the winter months with a reasonable confidence of safety for the traveling public. Previously, the Department closed this section of highway after the first avalanches hit the road.
The Avalanche Crew will continue to monitor the snowpack as a snowstorm hits the area and after. The highway will reopen when the snowpack has stabilized and the risk of active avalanches is reduced. Updates on closures and openings will be posted on 511. Future closures will be announced on 511 and ITD’s Twitter account.
There are sixty regular avalanche paths in this 11-mile stretch of ID-21. Avalanches can be triggered without warning. For this reason, there is no parking or stopping within this section of road during the winter.
Below is a gallery of activities the Avalanche Crew performs during the winter.
Sign at Banner Creek warning of avalanche zone
Members of the Avalanche Crew walk to the weather station at Banner Summit
Chantel Astorga grabs measurements at Banner Summit
Brent Jenkins measures the snowpack depth at Banner Summit
The weather station at Banner Summit collects valuable data used to forecast avalanche risk
Chantel tabulates and tracks snowpack and weather data to forecast avalanche risk
Avalanche tracking data
This sign reminds motorists to not stop in this dangerous stretch of ID-21
The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) and the Idaho Associated General Contractors (AGC) announced the winners of the Excellence in Construction Partnering Awards at the ITD monthly board meeting Thursday, Dec. 17.
The Excellence in Construction Partnering Awardsrecognize outstanding partnering efforts between ITD employees and the contractor community. Good construction project partnering results in the delivery of quality projects, on time and within budget, whichbenefits Idaho travelers and taxpayers overall.
The inaugural awards competition was announced in October as a joint collaboration between ITD Chief Operations Officer Dan McElhinney and Wayne Hammon, CEO of the Idaho Associated General Contractors. Applicants were encouraged to submit for construction contracts underway today and those built within the last three years.
Theapplications were reviewed by a judging panel of state and local partnersand evaluated on criteria related tohow well the project:
Resolved conflict
Improved communication on the project with all audiences
Utilized innovative solutions
Incorporated team building activities
Honored stakeholders
Achieved a common goal
Thewinners,announced at the ITD monthly board meeting this December, were recognized for earning gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention awards.
A rockslide blocks US-95 near Riggins in July 2020.
One project was unanimously selected as the ‘Top Gold’ award winner, for its outstanding partnering efforts and uniquely difficult circumstance—the rockslide removal and rock blasting project on US-95 following a rockslide near Riggins in July 2020.
Below is a comprehensive list of the 2020 Excellence in Construction Partnering Award winners:
Silver Award: Poe Asphalt Paving Inc. & District 2 Webb Road to Aspen Lane Pavement Project
Silver Award: Idaho Materials & Construction & ITD District 4 US-93 200 South Road 4-Lane Widening Project
Silver Award: Knife River Corporation & ITD District 4 US-20 Willow Creek and Rock Creek New Bridges Project
Silver Award: Idaho Materials & Construction & ITD District 3 & Costco US-20/26 Costco Public Road Improvements Project
Silver Award: Knife River Corporation & ITD District 3 I-84 Blacks Creek Road Interchange Reconstruction Project
Bronze Award: Central Paving Company Inc. & District 3 US-95 Elephant Butte Swelling Clays Highway Reconstruction Project
Bronze Award: Wadsworth Construction & ITD District 3 SH-55 Snake River Bridge Replacement Project
Honorable Mention: Western Construction Inc. & ITD District 4 I-84 Jerome Interchange to Twin Falls Interchange Project
Honorable Mention: Concrete Placing Company Inc. & ITD District 3 I-84 Northside Blvd to Franklin Blvd Project
Honorable Mention: DePatco Inc. & ITD District 6 US-20 Ashton Hill Bridge to Dumpground Road Project
Honorable Mention: Mountain West Electric Inc. & ITD District 6 D8 Signals Project
The goal of theawards is to increase awareness about partnering efforts by recognizing team solutions, sharing lessons learned, and highlighting best practices for infrastructure projects of all types and sizes.
“Construction partnering on projects is just good business,” McElhinney said. “ITD and the AGC value project partnering to help complete transportation projects across Idaho in a timely, professional, and responsive manner.”
2020 Excellence in Construction Partnering Award Winning Entries
The holidays are here and while celebrations may look different this year, keeping our communities safe remains a top priority. That is why law enforcement agencies are working together to keep impaired drivers off Idaho roads.
The ITD Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is partnering with 53law enforcement agencies statewide to increase impaired-driving enforcement and education from Dec. 11 to Jan. 3, 2021, surrounding the holiday season. The statewidecampaign is part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over mobilization.
“Increased messaging at both the state and national levelon the dangers of impaired driving, combined with increased enforcement, is part of a joint effort to preventDUI related crashes,” said OHS Grants Officer Lisa Losness.
In 2019 there were 238 impaired driving crashes that resulted in fatalities and suspected serious injuries, an increase of 27% from 2018. Last year 6% of all crashes involved impaired driving but resulted in 44% of all crash-related fatalities.
“The consequences of driving impaired tend to be severe,” said OHS Manager John Tomlinson. “It is a serious crime that puts Idahoans at risk every single day, and it is absolutely preventable.”
The consequences of a single DUI conviction for a first-time offender in Idahocan include costly fines, court costs, legal fees, jail time, and license suspension.
“We ask all Idahoans to please drive safely this holiday season,” reiterated Tomlinson. “We want everyone to make it home safely, so please designate a sober driver.”
What can you do?
Plan your safe ride home before you leave
If someone you know has been drinking, do not let that person get behind the wheel
If you drink, do not drive. Call a taxi, a ride-share service, or a sober friend
Always buckle up – it’s your best defense against impaired drivers
If you see an impaired driver on the road, call *477(*ISP) or call 911. Your actions could help save someone’s life.
Funding for extra traffic patrols is provided by a grant from OHS through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In extreme winter weather, chains can be a helpful tool to keep you safe while driving on slushy or snow covered roads. But are they required in Idaho?
Idaho’s chain up law does not apply to most drivers on the road, or even most places you drive.
The law only applies to commercial vehicles over 26,000 pounds on mountain passes, most notably on I-90 east of Coeur d’Alene and on US-12 at the Montana border.
This can be confusing, as chain laws vary by state. Neighboring states, like Washington, may require passenger vehicles without AWD or four-wheel drive use chains during the harshest of conditions.
In Idaho, chains are only required when conditions will prevent large vehicles from traversing grades without them, and the requirement is lifted as soon as possible to limit damage to the road. Operators with the Idaho Transportation Department activate special roadside signs alerting truck drivers to chain up as needed during the winter.
Some commercial vehicles, like logging trucks, tow trucks, and school buses are exempt from the law.
If the chain up law is in effect, then all drivers should be prepared for snowy conditions. Stay on top of road conditions or closures by visiting 511.idaho.gov or downloading the Idaho 511 app.
The Idaho Transportation Department will open four lanes of Chinden Boulevard from Locust Grove to Eagle Road to traffic this Friday, marking a major milestone in the ChindenWest Corridor project.
The widening of this section of Chinden from two lanes to four began this spring. This is the second segment of the ChindenWest project to finish this year. Idaho 16 to Linder Road was completed in September. Linder Road to Locust Grove will wrap up in 2021.
“With work in the corridor nearly complete, we appreciate the patience of the traveling public and nearby residents throughout construction,” said Daris Bruce, ITD District 3 Resident Engineer.
The ChindenWest corridor is a heavily-commuted section of U.S. 20/26 connecting I-84 and Eagle Road (ID-55). Widening to four lanes is the first of three phases for the corridor’s 2040 vision. Phase 2 will widen the highway to six lanes. Phase 3 will construct high-capacity intersections at key locations. No funding has been identified for those future phases at this time.
The project website, ITDprojects.org/ChindenWest, serves as a hub of information for the public, including videos that provide a window into the future. The one-stop-shop website includes detailed information about construction activities, anticipated traffic impacts, and the improvement designs.
The Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE) program works to provide a level playing field for women-owned and minority-owned under-represented businesses on federally funded transportation design and construction projects.
The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) is currently working on the Federal Transit Administration DBE Methodology review and approval process, and is seeking public comment on the draft proposal.
The comment period will begin Monday, Dec. 7, 2020 and ends on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021.
ITD will be holding a virtual meeting during the comment period on Thursday, Dec. 10, 4:00 – 5:30pm (MST).
“The purpose of the virtual meeting is to provide the public information on how we determined the proposed DBE methodology and answer any questions or concerns the public may have regarding the draft proposal,” said DBE Program Coordinator Ester Ceja.
If you have any questions, concerns, or program comments contact Ester at 208.334.8567 or Ester.Ceja@itd.idaho.gov
