ITD Announces the 2008 Excellence in Transportation Award Winners

In December 2007, ITD launched the interactive Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) on its website. The STIP also was made available via CD to its users. The website and CD have innovative features that are designed to assist ITD staff and residents to move freely through the document and overcome the hurdles generally associated with obtaining transportation program and project information.

The STIP website and CD enable users to access a variety of links to other important documents, specified project information, other websites, and give users the ability to directly email questions/comments to appropriate staff. Those who access the website also are able to keep abreast of any STIP modifications or amendments, check program development deadlines, see budgetary constraints faced by the department, and view ITD's long-range capital improvement plan.

The Interactive STIP CD is more than just a document; it is an integrated process for transportation planning and project selection. Idaho's STIP has been developed through a coordinated and cooperative process involving numerous and various parties throughout the state.

Tremendous Cost Savings captured each year by going paperless:
Printing Costs: > $19,000
Mailing Costs: > $5,000

The potential for air quality impacts in conjunction with individual transportation projects is an important consideration, both for conformity purposes in air quality, non-attainment, and maintenance areas as well as for NEPA purposes throughout the state.

ITD's PLAQ screening and analysis criteria and procedures were first established in 2001 to provide designers and environmental planners a tool for evaluating and documenting project level (hotspot) air quality impacts of highway projects. Since 2001, the document has gone through two additional updates.

The major updates in the 2007 edition address and refine the current CO screening criteria as well as the evaluation of particulate matter and mobile source air toxics (MSAT).

The end result of this interagency effort has been the development of a comprehensive guidance document on the assessment, evaluation, and documentation of project level air quality issues and impacts for transportation projects in Idaho. It is anticipated that this latest update of the PLAQ will lead to faster and more effective assessment and evaluation of projects for air quality, thus allowing the Department to better prioritize its time and resources.

Key Personnel

• Roy Jost (ITD)
• Greg Vitley (ITD)
• Jorge Garcia (IDEQ)

The soundwall project is the result of an extensive study of I-84 and is an important enhancement to the corridor that will improve the quality of life for residents adjacent to I-84.

The project team used an innovative approach to gather and distribute information to the public. Since it can be difficult to get people to attend public meetings, The Langdon Group took the meetings to the people. Staff set up all of the materials typically found at public meetings and displayed them in parks and parking lots. Meetings were well attended and built project awareness with residents and the community.

Life-size soundwall renderings, printed on vinyl sheeting, were displayed at meetings to convey size and texture of walls. Additional displays were created to illustrate the possible heights of the wall (10ft, 14ft, 22ft) depending on whether backyards were higher or lower than the adjacent interstate. The final texture, Ashlar Slate, was chosen based on public feedback.

The project team also worked closely with neighborhood associations and stakeholders to help identify issues and concerns needing to be addressed by the design team.

This was the first GARVEE-funded project to break ground on the I-84 East corridor in Boise. The project involved rehabilitating 6.1 miles of eastbound and westbound I-84 between the Broadway Avenue and Eisenman Road interchanges. Construction required closing three major access points for several trucking and manufacturing facilities, the valley's largest employer and largest university, and 41,000 commuters.

The public information strategy for this project was to keep traffic flowing as smoothly as possible, lessen impacts on business communities, reduce interruptions for emergency service providers, and avoid public controversy.

To communicate rapidly changing and complex information to commuters and businesses, the project team developed a proactive outreach process to disseminate information quickly and efficiently:

• Developed an initial detailed list of 400 affected businesses.
• Created an opt-in email list of 279 concerned parties that would receive notification prior to any ramp closure or schedule change.
• Designed and distributed an air freshener with directions to ITD's 5-1-1 traveler information service.

There were also public meetings, a weekly bulletin, a website, radio ads, and other varied media used to keep the public informed.

This complex project realigned U.S. 95 for approximately 7.5 miles through difficult terrain by replacing a narrow winding two-lane highway with a four-lane divided facility and included the construction of three new bridges. CH2M HILL was responsible for complete project development services.

One of the many innovative features on this project was the accelerated embankment construction around a UPRR crossing. The soft, saturated soils in the vicinity created challenges for design and construction. A staged embankment with the use of wick drains underneath it was specified to expedite settlement in this area. Vibrating wire piezometers and settlement plates were used to monitor the amount of settlement occurring.

The over 2.2 million cubic meters of excavation and earth disturbing activities were limited to a 6-month window in each calendar year to control the potential for erosion during wet winter and spring months. The project's highly erodible slopes were stabilized with natural rock mulch to provide for vegetation growth while preventing erosion.

CH2M HILL worked closely with stakeholders, regulatory agencies, and the public. Their collaborative decision making process successfully developed the U.S. 95 realignment project which will serve the region well into the future.