Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Barricades and byways…

A provision in the ConocoPhillips permits that allows the company to barricade highway turnouts on U.S. Highway 12 24 hours in advance of when its megaloads would need to pull off in them has come up in today's hearing. Laird Lucas, attorney for the megaloads opponents, asked Reymundo Rodriguez, ITD commercial vehicle services manager, "Have you ever seen an overlegal permit where an applicant is allowed to barricade public highway turnouts 24 hours before the move?" Rodriguez responded, "This would be the first that I am aware of."

ConocoPhillips attorney Erik Stidham, in his cross-examination of Rodriguez, asked him to read from documents about the designated scenic byway along the route, including a clause that notes, "Truck traffic along the byway can be substantial and aggressive" and says that commercial traffic constitutes 27 percent of the route's use. Attorneys for the opponents objected, but were overruled; Stidham said he was trying to make the point that the scenic byway designation is irrelevant to the megaloads issue.

Lucas also quizzed Rodriguez about why ITD applied a 15-minute rule to the permit, saying traffic must be able to pass every 15 minutes, rather than the 10-minute rule contained in an ITD regulation. Rodriguez said the 10-minute rule didn't apply because there was a traffic-control plan. The 15-minute rule doesn't come from any written policy, Rodriguez said. "Over the years we have determined that 15 minutes does meet that criteria of frequent passing," he said, based on "experience, the folks out at the districts."



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

Follow Betsy online: