local website comprehensive source of information
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/