Transportation board's decision is a mixed bag

KOOTENAI COUNTY - A decision by the Idaho Transportation Board that aims to protect funds pegged for preserving Idaho's highways also would suspend planned programs beyond 2010 that address tourism and congestion issues.

The reasons behind the decision are flat revenues and escalating construction costs, according to Idaho Transportation Department officials.

“The board reaffirmed its commitment to preserving Idaho's highways and protecting those assets as a top priority,” said Mel Coulter, ITD communications specialist. “As a result, applications for enhancement projects and congestion-reduction programs, which constitute a separate part of our Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, will be suspended. That will allow us to put an estimated $12 million of additional funds into highway preservation.”

None of the enhancement/congestion projects already approved and included in the STIP, including the Greensferry Road interchange/overpass in Post Falls and two Lancaster Road projects in Hayden, should be affected by the decision, Coulter said.

“They will be funded as planned,” Coulter said. “The board action directs that we not accept applications for new projects beyond 2010. If local jurisdictions are or have been working on new requests to submit to the board for funding, they would not be considered.

“We recognize the time and effort that local jurisdictions invested in their current applications. As a result, those applications will be prioritized and, for all practical purposes, be put on a waiting list for possible addition to a future STIP if our revenue status improves significantly.”

Coulter said keeping those applications on an inactive list will enable ITD to revive the applications more quickly when, or if, the agency is able to add them in the future.

Post Falls City Administrator Eric Keck said he sees the decision, which will be part of the draft STIP that will be open to public comment throughout the summer, as a mixed bag.

“This move is indicative of our collective struggle to not only enhance the transportation network but to just maintain what we have,” Keck said. “We will continue to try and find ways to enhance the transportation network on our own since the state has been unable to do so for the past several years.

“We certainly hope that the Legislature will earnestly examine alternatives for funding the requisite maintenance and improvements to the transportation network during the interim legislative session as well as in 2009.”

Keck said local governments such as Post Falls will also want to play an active role in trying to help find a solution as well as to ensure that the funding they currently receive for maintenance is not taken away.

“We too are struggling to maintain our own transportation infrastructure,” Keck said.

Keck said Post Falls will likely lose a Congestion Mitigation Air Quality grant for the Seltice Way and Mullan Avenue corridors as a result of the transportation board's decision.

“We will apparently lose the opportunity to study this, but do appreciate where the state is coming from,” Keck said.

Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin, a board member of the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, said he is “deeply disappointed” that the enhancement projects and congestion mitigation projects have been scrubbed.

“It would seem appropriate for ITD to wait until the audit of the department is completed before lowering the ax,” he said.

Larkin said he hopes some of the $12 million in additional preservation funds will find its way north.

He said legislators have “failed miserably” to deal with raising gas taxes for 14 years.

“So it's crunch time,” he said.

The board voted against accepting applications for projects in 2011 and beyond for the federally funded enhancement and congestion programs. In addition, planning projects were eliminated.

The transportation board will make a final decision on the STIP in September.

“We are having to decide between maintaining our highways and suspending programs,” Idaho Transportation Board Chairman Darrell V. Manning said. “The board is not making this decision lightly.”