ITD Winter Driving Tips

The Idaho Transportation Department asks you not to get too crazy near their snowplows. When driving near snowplows keep a few safety tips in mind:

- Remain two car lengths behind plows for every 10 mph you drive. Sand being spread by trucks can damage your vehicle.

- Do not pass a snowplow unless it is absolutely necessary. If you must pass, do so only when you can clearly see the road ahead. Do not pass on the side where the plow is spraying snow. If you do, the snow's force can knock your car out of control.

- Do not cut back immediately in front of a snowplow truck. The plow blades are often covered with snow and can be difficult to see.

- Do not brake suddenly if you are traveling in front of a snowplow. The heavy vehicle cannot stop as quickly as an automobile.

- Do not abandon your car unless it is absolutely necessary. However, if you must, leave it as far off the road as possible. Abandoned cars can interfere with the road clearing process and can be extremely hazardous to snow removal equipment and the operators if they are hidden or buried by snow.

- Be aware of potential icy areas such as shady spots, bridges, and overpasses. Since they are exposed on their undersides, bridges and overpasses are deprived of ground warmth and freeze more rapidly than the roadways leading to them.

ITD Upgrades 511 System

With winter here, the Idaho Transportation Department is enhancements its 511 Traveler Services system to help you safely navigate changing highway and weather conditions. Among the changes:

- A simplified route-reporting process that enables callers and Web site users to select a portion of a highway for information retrieval. In the past, telephone callers had to listen to a report for the entire length of a specific highway even when they only wanted to check a short segment.

- Event locations will be reference by their distance to cities and towns, rather than mileposts or lesser-known geographic points, in order to make it easier for telephone users to locate road closures and other events

-The 511.idaho.gov website now includes Google Map technology that provides terrain or satellite imagery and a number of other graphics-based features.

- And for those of you with 'handheld devices' like fancy schmancy cell phones, ITD this year introduced a new Mobile Web option that provides road reports and camera images. To access the reports, enter 511.idaho.gov in the Web address of your mobile browser.

BNSF Depot Gets Approval

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe refueling depot in Huetter received a nod of approval from the Kootenai County commissioners yesterday. Commissioners voted unanimously that the depot is in compliance with the conditions the officials set when they passed a conditional use permit for the facility in 2004. Here's the story.

ITD Director Salary Released

According to the Idaho Transportation Department, theire new state transportation director, Brian Ness, will be paid $165,000 a year. That’s $22,000 more a year than the salary of the previous director, Pam Lowe, who made $143,000.

What Would It Take To Make Our Area Into A Hub For Global Commerce?

That’s the question posed by a local transportation study we're partnering with several other agencies on. The Inland Pacific Hub (IPH) Transportation Study is a project to establish the Inland Northwest region as a multi-modal hub in order to increase international commerce.

The IPH is a very large-scope project, both conceputally and geographically. It covers ten counties in Washington (Adams, Asotin, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman) and nine in Idaho (Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Clearwater, Kootenai, Latah, Lewis, Nez Perce and Shoshone).

Because the study area is so big, we have created a new website to reach all the people in those areas that are interested or may want to be involved. So, while it may sound far-fetched for Eastern Washington/North Idaho to be the ideal inland port, the area is actually perfectly situated and has many economic development opportunities already in place. Check out the Inland Pacific Hub website to see why.

ITD To Use Lasers To Avoid Car-Animal Accidents

When I heard that the Idaho Transportation Department is going to use lasers to try to keep animals from being hit by drivers on a stretch of US 95 near Moscow, the first thing I thought of was the sharks with lasers mounted on their heads from Austin Powers. Cool, they're going to equip game with lasers so they can shoot back at cars approaching them too fast! Uh, not quite. Turns out it's a system where lights flash when deer, elk, moose or other animals pass through laser beams focused along shoulders of the highway.

The system is supposed to give travelers an extra chance to avoid a collision. While it's not as cool as large animals that shoot laser beams, it's still pretty cool. I want some in my neighborhood.

ITD Names New Director

Idaho has named a new transportation director, this time an administrator from Michigan’s Department of Transportation who holds both an engineering degree and a master’s degree in public administration. Here's the story from the Spokesman-Review.

AAA Expecting More Holiday Drivers This Year

AAA is predicting more people will drive to see family and friends over the Thanksgiving holiday than will fly. They say reduced airline capacity, added charges, and lingering economic worries will prompt travellers to choose a cheaper way to travel.

However, in a sign that the economy may be improving, Americans are expected to travel long distances in bigger numbers than Thanksgiving weekend 2008, the AAA says.

In the Pacific Northwest, 4.6 million are expected to travel for Thanksgiving, an increase of more than 8%- much higher than the national growth rate.

AAA said the number of people who will travel 50 miles or more away from home during Thanksgiving is expected to grow to 38.4 million this year, up 1.4% from last year.

Can You Imagine A Bus With A Bunch Of Dog Heads Hanging Out The Window?

Would you let this adorable face on the bus if you were a driver? How could you say no? This is Fergie, who belongs to our IT guy Tony. And if some people in Idaho have their way, dogs like Fergie would soon be allowed to ride buses with their owners in cities like Sun Valley, Ketchum, and Hailey.

Mountain Rides Transportation Authority is seeking public input on whether dogs should be allowed on its buses. Here's the article from the Idaho Mountain Express. And be sure to read the comments. There's some good stuff there about how dogs are better than snot-nosed kids any day, etc.

So how about it Citylink? Can I bring my Lily on the bus? What do you think, should dogs be allowed on buses in North Idaho?

Secretary LaHood Talks Complete Streets

The Complete Streets Coalition apparently has an in with the big dogs. Several members of the National Complete Streets Coalition and Transportation for America participated in a meeting yesterday with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The topic was how Complete Streets can create a safer environment for pedestrians and other road users.

Here's an article about the meeting from the Complete Streets website.

Pam Lowe Files Amendment To Suit... And Stands In Front Of Attorney's Office

So despite the gravity of the situation, this picture cracked me up when I saw it on the Spokesman's 'Eye on Boise' blog today. It's Pam Lowe posing in front of her attorney's office. Ummm... okay. Is that supposed to scare the state of Idaho into settling with her? Just thought it was kind of weird...

Anyway, the latest on the Lowe vs. ITD case is that she filed an amended complaint today to the whisteblower complaint she filed last week, saying the fact that she's female played a part in her firing. Here's the article.

CDA/Hayden Area Gets New Kind Of Traffic Signal

There's a new traffic signal in town. The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) this week is installing new signals throughout Coeur d'Alene and Hayden that are known as flashing yellow arrow left-turn signals.

According to ITD, the lights offer several advantages over the old left-turn signals:

- They're safer - A national study conducted by the Federal Highway Administration demonstrated that drivers made fewer mistakes with the new signals than with traditional left-turn-arrow signals.

- They're more efficient - The new signals provide traffic engineers with more options to handle variable traffic volumes.

- They're more consistent - Motorists will see the new signals in every state because the signals are being introduced throughout the U.S.

If you're curious to see the new signals in action, just take a little drive up to either US 95 and Idaho 53, and Garwood Road or in Coeur d'Alene, there's one in use at the Ramsey Road intersection at the Kroc Center.

Electric Cars- Maybe Not The Wave Of The Future?

In response to my thread about the new electric cars that will be available soon, blogger 'Canada Guy' suggested
this article that says going to all electric cars is neither feasible, nor possibly beneficial to the environment.

Interesting reading. Let me know what you think.

ITD Contract Getting Close Scrutiny

Allegations by former Idaho Transportation Department director Pam Lowe are causing scrutiny of a huge contract with two engineering companies.

Lowe says both the firms were major contributors to Governor Otter's campaign, and when she tried to trim the contract in order to trim her budget, she was fired.

Here's the latest from the Magic Valley Times-News.

Fog Slowing Things Down & Causing Accidents

Slow down out there, 'cause the fog is causing accidents again. The National Weather Service says visibility is less than a quarter-mile in some places and the heaviest fog is along the Interstate 90 corridor from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene.

Temperatures below freezing also have increased the risk for slippery roadways, forecasters said. There have been several accidents reported, including a couple in the West Plains area.

You should probably plan to leave early tomorrow morning as well, as snow is expected to fall. Yes, I said snow. Now I'm going to curl up in the fetal position under my desk and stay there until spring.

Drunken Walkers Cause Large Amount Of Accidents

Yesterday, blogger Holly commented that, when she was taking training on serving alcohol in restaurants, she was told that 10% of alcohol related injuries involving vehicles and pedestrians are actually a result of the walker being intoxicated, not the driver. I found that to be an interesting statistic and wanted to find out more. Well, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), drunken walking is somewhat of a big problem.

According to an article in the CDC's 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report,' (yikes, there's a facinating read) pedestrians account for 14% of all motor-vehicle–related deaths. And statistics for 1982 show that 39% of those walkers involved in a fatal accident were at or above a BAC of .10 percent.

Here's the report, and it includes lots of charts and graphs in case you're like me and have a short attention span.

It's Not Safe To Do Anything Drunk Anymore

Have you seen this yet? It's video of a drunk woman in Boston who fell onto the tracks in a subway station. Scary stuff. Jeez, all this time we've been hearing how dangerous it is to drive drunk, but no one's said anything about riding the subway drunk.

Cool New Electric Cars Hitting Market Soon

I shouldn't be letting this secret out, but the gas station at State Line next to the El Patio restaurant has gas for $2.49 on Monday nights during the Monday night football game.

While that helps me trim the budget a little, I still resent the new boats and other toys I'm buying for the gas company executives and their families.

Some well-known names may put an end to our gas headache though- at least a dozen new electric or hybrid cars are expected to hit the U.S. market within the next few years.

There is a drawback though- while you'll be saving on gas, the price of the car might make up for it. Here's the story on the new electrics from the L.A. Times.

Fatal US 95 Accident Under Investigation

Idaho State Police continue their investigation today into a head-on crash that killed an Athol man yesterday on US 95 and caused a major traffic backup.

Here's the story from the Spokesman-Review.

Holiday Closures

A reminder that, while KMPO employees will be slaving away behind our desks tomorrow, that's not the case for many public agencies.

Both Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls' City Halls will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday) for Veterans' Day. Other city offices and facilities will be closed as well. Everything will be back to normal again at 8 a.m. on Thursday though.