State board cuts 2011 Idaho roads-building funding request, says projects are getting cheaper
By APThursday, January 7, 2010
State board cuts 2011 Idaho roads funding request
BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho Transportation Department plans to ask lawmakers for just $26 million in additional bonding authority for fiscal year 2011 because falling construction prices mean the agency doesn’t need as much money as it originally expected to finish projects.
The state Transportation Board, meeting Wednesday, voted to trim the amount from $45 million.
That had been approved by Idaho’s roads oversight panel in October, but officials now anticipate savings, including on projects on U.S. Interstate 84 in southwestern Idaho.
Trimming the latest installment of the billion-dollar “Connecting Idaho” roads-building plan could preemptively mitigate what’s become almost annual objections from lawmakers who fiercely object to the debt-for-highways program.
Since lawmakers passed the Connecting Idaho program in 2005, the Legislature has approved $681 million in bond authorizations.
