Highway 95: Moscow to Lewiston

[Kenton Bird <kbird@uidaho.edu>]

Dear visionaries,
I am pleased to rejoin this list after three years in Colorado.  I'm
slowly getting up to speed on issues, so please forgive me if this topic
has been previously discussed.

I have seen several newspaper ads that the Idaho Department of
Transportation is looking for suppliers of crushed rock in the
"corridor" from the top of the Lewiston Hill to Moscow, for the purpose
of constructing a four-lane highway.

Can anyone tell me:
1. Whether this widening of the highway is on the DOT's construction
calendar, and if so, for what year?
2. How this project is/was justified (traffic counts, accident rates,
etc.)?
3. How it will be funded (state/federal mix)?
4. Whether this is the best possible use of our state's limited
transportation dollars?  (For example, would a bypass around Moscow
provide greater safety and efficiency benefits to long-haul truckers and
others traveling from Coeur d'Alene to Lewiston than four lanes in the
rural 20-mile stretch south of Moscow?)
5. Whether the Moscow City Council or Latah County Commissioners has
endorsed this project?
6. What safeguards Idaho has to ensure that the Moscow-Lewiston corridor
isn't forever scarred by gravel pits the way the Moscow-Pullman corridor
has?

I drove to Lewiston on Tuesday and didn't see enough traffic to justify
four lanes, especially since nearly every hill has a passing lane.  But
perhaps I'm missing something.

--Kenton Bird