IDAHO, USA — This publication is Part II of a two-part series.
Increasing traffic in the Treasure Valley is affecting your time, safety, and bottom line. There are solutions to these traffic problems, but also a major problem with those solutions.
Traffic in the Treasure Valley is bad, and it's getting worse. Economists like Steven Peterson, Associate Clinical Professor of Economics at the University of Idaho say, it's costing the economy jobs, "I think we definitely need to put a lot more resources, thought and planning into how we're going to manage the traffic flows."
Police like Idaho State Police Captain Matt Sly say, it's costing us our safety, "It can impact people's lives and not just one person but a lot of people."
And all of us who commute know it's costing us time. But what can be done, if anything? The population of the Valley has spiked, so has the number of cars on the road, and we will continue to grow, according to Matt Stoll, Executive Director of COMPASS. "Unfortunately, with a growing community, you're always going to have congestion."
COMPASS is the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho. It's a group of local governments working together to plan for the future of the Treasure Valley, and right now, a lot of their planning is focused on transportation and traffic. Stoll says, "If we ignore it, and put our heads in the sand, it's not going to get better, it just gets progressively worse."
That’s why COMPASS created a long-range transportation plan for Ada and Canyon Counties, called 'Communities in Motion 2050.' The goal is to keep everyone safe on the roads and make sure we can get where we need to go, while boosting the economy and significantly helping improve everyone's quality of life. So, it's a tall task. How's it going so far?
If we start by looking at one part of the plan, big road expansion projects, like on the Interstate, Highway 20/26, and Highway 44, things are going great. Stoll says, "Back in 2012, I believe it was, I didn't think those projects were ever going to be built, because we didn't have the revenue.
Fast forward to 2015. The Legislature does tremendous efforts for the past eight years enhancing our revenues, and we're building the state transportation system to the point where now we're going, 'Most of those projects that we didn't think we're going to be built are going to be built on the state system.'"
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But, as you know, those newly expanded roads are already congested. And there's not much room left to expand them, especially on I-84. "You can do maybe one more lane on it, but then pretty much you're done on those options,” says Stoll. “So, we're talking about what's the next iteration of the state transportation system."
"However, it's not just the state transportation system that needs to be improved. It's also the local transportation systems," Stoll continues. "Because if you set up a proper grid system, where folks can have options in getting around, that can alleviate the congestion that we're seeing on the state system."
But Stoll says, adding more lanes is only one part of the plan. It also involves developers building more mixed-use areas, where people can live, work, play, and shop, without hopping in their car.
There are also cost-effective solutions in the plan, like messaging commuters when there are backups, traffic lights at the bottom of off-ramps, and just better signal timing. "It's not just widening the roads that you need to do," said Stoll.
That's something Sarah Larsen can agree with. "I feel like we've gotten to a fair amount of lanes."
Larsen is an Edward Jones Senior branch office administrator. She fights traffic daily commuting from Caldwell to Meridian. Something she thinks would help, are more public transportation options, "I want to be able to walk a couple of blocks, get to a major artery and hop on a bus and run to the grocery store and come back. And I don't think that doing that within the course of an hour is really too much to ask.
Neither does Stoll. He says, there's something a lot of larger communities did when they were our size, that's really helping traffic now, "They did invest in public transportation."
So, public transportation is a big part of the solution. High-capacity transit, like rail, is still 15 to 20 years away. That's because you have to study it and then build it. There's also no dedicated state funding mechanism for public transportation in Idaho, so you have to find a way to pay for it too. In fact, that's the biggest issue with the entire 'Communities in Motion 2050,' funding it. But how short could they be?
"We're $193 million per year short in the necessary revenue," says Stoll.
That's right. They're $193 million short every single year in funding this $11 billion plan that runs through 2050. Part of the shortfall is thanks to inflation.
And really, Stoll says, it could've been much worse, "The State Legislature has done a tremendous effort and made great strides over the past eight years in enhancing the revenue for our region and for the state and making available funds. But we also need to explore other revenues at the federal level."
That means federal grants, which they've secured, from a few hundred thousand to hundreds of millions of dollars. COMPASS also just hired a full-time grant writer to get even more federal dollars. But those grants are one-time or infrequent money. So, consistent local and state funding is key.
While Stoll applauded the State Legislature for making big strides in transportation funding, he worries that it won't be enough, especially when it comes to bicycle and pedestrian transportation. But if you want your State Legislature to pump more of your tax dollars into transportation, or different transportation solutions, there is something you can do right now.
"They need to get involved and express to their local government officials that they want something different." Stoll says your lawmakers cannot listen to you, if you're not telling them anything. For that matter, neither can COMPASS or any agency that's working to try to plan for the future of Treasure Valley traffic.
Stoll had one big message to commuters, "If they think if they feel like they need to have a shorter commute, or different options, please let us know. Please let the legislature know. Please let the local governments know that that's what they want. If they're silent, we don't know that."
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