It's time for county to re-evaluate winter road maintenance

I believe it is time for Bonner County to re-evaluate its policies regarding winter maintenance of county roads. Another fatal accident occurred on the Spirit Lake Cutoff Road, taking the lives of a father and daughter.

By all accounts, the accident occurred because of untreated black ice on a curve. This accident should not have happened. One only needs to read an editorial published in the Bee on Dec. 4, 2019, written by Steve Klatt, director of Road and Bridge, that clearly explains Bonner County’s inadequate and archaic winter road maintenance standards.

Recently, the Idaho Transportation Department has changed from treating our state highways with sand, to using liquid salt brine. By all accounts, this program is working very well. The brine is applied proactively before storms arrive and before temperatures fall below freezing. That, along with timely road plowing, has made the state highways much safer for travel in Bonner County. I give the state five gold stars for this maintenance program. It has no doubt saved lives. It appears to me that the county is shortchanging road safety for other priorities. Those with their hands on the county throttles should adopt from the state a better solution to maintain our county arterial roads in a safer manner. This should be driven by weather conditions when needed, rather than obsolete county guidelines and techniques. Yes, it will cost more; presently, lives are needlessly being lost.

WENDEL BERGMAN

Hope