U.S. 95 freeway funding restored
BOISE – Legislative budget writers have restored $35 million for the initial stages of a new freeway between Coeur d’Alene and Sandpoint.
The revised statewide bonding plan for highway improvements, approved by the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on a 19-1 vote Wednesday, still totals $200 million – the same as in an earlier version. While that’s less than the $218 million Gov. Dirk Kempthorne had sought, it puts back the $35 million for land acquisition and engineering on a project to turn U.S. Highway 95 from Garwood to Sagle into a four-lane freeway.
In the previous version of the “Connecting Idaho” plan, funds for the Garwood-Sagle stretch had been cut to just $3.4 million.
“It has been a good morning,” said Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, vice chair of JFAC. “The co-chairs were very sensitive to the northern legislators who worked as a team to restore that funding, and additionally held the department to accountability in terms of what the real numbers were.”
Kempthorne praised the deal: “JFAC’s action this morning is a solid first step in making Idaho’s highways safer and more efficient for people and commerce by using GARVEE bonds.”
GARVEE bonds, or Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles, allow the state to borrow against future federal highway allocations. Kempthorne last year persuaded lawmakers to use the bonds to try to do 30 years worth of major highway construction in the next 10 years.
But lawmakers must approve each round of bonding in the $1.2 billion plan, and the first round proved controversial. After negotiations that lasted into the night Tuesday, Kempthorne signed off on the slimmed-down plan, which also includes flexibility for the Transportation Department to shift money between projects if necessary.
“The financial commitment made by the committee for the first 18 months of the program addresses some of the most critical areas among the billions of dollars in backlogged road needs in Idaho,” Kempthorne said. “Ultimately, this successful compromise means Idahoans will drive on better, safer, more efficient roads and highways. We’re solidly on our way to connecting Idaho.”
All five North Idaho lawmakers who serve on JFAC voted in favor of the plan, including Keough and Reps. George Eskridge, R-Dover; Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries; Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls; and Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow. The only dissenting vote came from Rep. Cliff Bayer, R-Boise.
Bayer said he’s concerned that there’s a movement on to “push the property tax issue to the ballot when we should deal with it,” and at the same time to move forward with GARVEE bonding – which he believes should go to a vote of the people.
“There are big questions regarding constitutionality,” Bayer said. “I could support a very significant GARVEE program if it were through the ballot to the people, as provided by the state constitution.”
An Idaho attorney general’s opinion last year cleared the GARVEE bonding plan, which comes under a special law Congress passed to allow states to borrow against future federal highway allocations. But Bayer said he still has questions and wants an independent legal opinion.
The final GARVEE bonding plan approved by JFAC covers work to take place in the next 18 months. It includes: $45.6 million for the final phase of Highway 95 from Worley to Setters; $70 million to start expanding I-84 from Caldwell to Meridian; $30.5 million to rebuild part of U.S. Highway 30 from McCammon to Soda Springs in eastern Idaho; $5 million to start work on a route from I-84 to south Emmett; $13.9 million for preliminary work on I-84 from Orchard to Isaacs Canyon in the Boise area; and $35 million for the Garwood to Sagle project on Highway 95.
U.S. 95 from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint is a high-accident, heavily traveled route. The full cost to build the new freeway is estimated at $324.2 million.