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Highway 95 construction and improvements coming;
local website comprehensive source of
information |
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January 7, 2015 |
Changes are coming to Highway 95 in its course
through Boundary County, and the Idaho
Transportation Department wants input from
Boundary County citizens to help plan those
changes.
If you, like most of us, feel extremely
unqualified to give any meaningful input on how
our future highway should be, we have a
suggestion for the first place you should start:
the Highway 95 Bonners Ferry website, set up and
maintained by Boundary County resident Paul RW
Anthony.
Mr. Anthony's website can be found at
http://www.hwy95bonnersferry.com/
Highway 95 changes are in development
now
Right now, the Idaho Transportation Department
is studying potential routes for the future
corridor for the future Highway 95, and they are
identifying special issues within each
geographic area regarding the impact of that
corridor.
"In Boundary County, the special issues are the
immediate and long-term safety, access,
circulation and mobility needs along U.S. 95
through the South Hill area of Bonners Ferry as
well as the safety, access and alignment needs
along the stretch of U.S. 95 between Three Mile
Junction and State Highway 1," says the ITD
Corridor Study for U.S. Highway 95 through
District 1 (the panhandle area of the state).
Right now, the ITD has over $5 million set aside
to start on a rebuild of Highway 95 as it passes
through Bonners Ferry. Before that money gets
put to work, however, the Transportation
Department is asking something of those of us
who live and work in this area.
Public input is wanted
First, ITD is seeking a consensus of sorts from
area residents as to what vision we hold of the
future Highway 95 for Bonners Ferry and Boundary
County, and how we see that $5 million being
spent. Don Davis, ITD Senior Transportation
Planner for District 1, would like to have that
input by April.
The City is helping to facilitate this process,
having established a Transportation Committee to
gather and analyze facts regarding
transportation issues through Bonners Ferry and
Boundary County, and to recommend priorities for
ITD's spending and use of the $5 million for our
area. The Transportation Committee's report, to
be completed by April, will go to ITD officials
and engineers, where it will be used to help
formulate a funding plan for the project. Public
hearings will likely be held around this time,
also.
It is anticipated that by August funds will be
allocated toward initial phases of the project,
with construction possibly beginning in the
spring of 2016. Keep in mind this is just for
the initial, and most-needed, parts of the
project. Mr. Anthony anticipates that the
project overall, will take years, perhaps three
to four years, or more, for completion. And, he
says, even then we as a community won't be done
or ready to sit back and relax. "We must be
active every budget session for approximately
the next 10-20 years with our written views of
what we want done now, then and into the future.
We must develop a plan as to what our town is
going to be like in the future, and how we are
going to make that happen," said Mr. Anthony.
Highway 95 website a significant source
for information
Mr. Anthony is a member of the local
Transportation Committee. When ITD asked for
input from the community regarding the future of
Highway 95, he realized there existed no single
source where people could go to obtain
information that could be used to develop
meaningful public input on the project.
 "I
was aware that there was no 'vehicle' that
allowed the viewing of any and all related
facts, graphs, maps, nor any opinions available
by which a consensus could be achieved," said
Mr. Anthony. "In other words, there was no
forum. Thus, I decided to provide one. A public
service website for the dissemination of facts
and opinions. A site without political or
economic motivations. A site whereby all facts
may be posted and any relevant opinions, after
being identified as opinions, might be posted."
With that motivation, he assembled and posted
for public use the Highway 95 Bonners Ferry
website. A brief look at the website immediately
shows how comprehensive it is, yet remaining
accessible for easy and simple retrieval of
important and detailed information about Highway
95.
The site contains the latest current events
regarding the highway, minutes of public
meetings that deal with Highway 95, postings
from the Idaho Department of Transportation,
proposed concepts and routes for a highway
bypass around Bonners Ferry, also maps on
Highway 95 development, and several photographs
of highway concerns.
There is also a section where expert editorial
opinions on Highway 95 and its issues are
posted, and an area where individual citizens
can post opinions.
For anyone looking for a one-stop,
information-rich place to go where they may
quickly become updated on Highway 95 funding and
construction issues, the Highway 95 Bonners
Ferry website is that go-to place.
Even the Idaho Transportation Department
accesses and follows the website, and has posted
material on the site.
How you can help
In coming months, significant decisions will be
made on the main arterial highway through our
county. Your opinions are solicited and
welcomed. Meetings of the Transportation
Committee are open to the public. (The next
meeting is today, at 4:30 p.m. at City Hall in
Bonners Ferry).
To start your learning curve to prepare to make
meaningful contributions to the debate, or to
simply be informed of what is going on with the
highway project, you might consider making your
starting point the Highway 95 Bonners Ferry
website, available at
http://www.hwy95bonnersferry.com/ |
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