The Idaho Transportation Department will repave Interstate 84 from Nampa to Caldwell (Franklin Boulevard to Franklin Road) this summer.
“The Department has been working to accelerate construction and reduce costs in order to extend the project limits -- following a mid-January ITD Board vote to advance a project to repave a smaller segment of I-84 between Karcher Road and Franklin Road,” said agency spokeswoman Jennifer Gonzalez.
With design support from ITD's Pocatello office, work originally slated to begin in 2018 and 2019 will be constructed this summer. Also, key to moving this project forward is support from the cities of Nampa and Caldwell, along with the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho, also known as COMPASS.
The project includes resurfacing the entire stretch of both east and westbound I-84 between Nampa and Caldwell, with the majority of the work occurring over the course of four weekends, Gonzalez explained. “This timeline is significantly less than the anticipated four-month construction timeframe, if work were to follow traditional construction and scheduling methods,” she added.
Staging work over four weekends provides a much safer work zone for crews.
The weekend work also reduces the impact to the traveling public, the overall time to complete the work, and the cost of the project through less traffic management during construction. “These cost savings allow ITD to extend the project to Franklin Boulevard,” Gonzalez said.
“We recognize the importance of this corridor and have focused our efforts on completing this resurfacing work as swiftly as possible,” said ITD District 3 Engineer Amy Revis.
Details and impacts of the project will be announced in coming weeks, according to the ITD.
“While the maintenance work addresses deterioration of the roadway due to age and extensive pothole damage suffered this winter, it does not include widening,” said Gonzalez. “Widening I-84 from Nampa to Caldwell is estimated to cost $330 million. ITD's available funding statewide for pavement maintenance, bridge replacements and safety improvements is approximately $300 million annually.”
Due to current transportation funding levels, ITD is focused on preservation and maintenance of the existing system.
