Frew: ITD decision on Conoco understated speed loads will travel

Idaho DMV chief Alan Frew is the one who signed a memorandum decision issued in August approving the four ConocoPhillips megaloads. Frew just told the contested-case hearing that he got three things wrong in his memorandum, both in the August version and in a later updated version. “I relied on some information that I relied upon that wasn’t accurate,” Frew said.

First, he wrote that the megaloads would have a maximum speed of 25 mph and average speed of 15 mph. “In point of fact, these vehicles are able to safely move at speeds greater than those,” he said, both for the maximum and the average. Secondly, he neglected to identify additional locations along the route where traffic couldn’t pass the megaloads, which will take up both lanes of the two-lane road, for more than 10 minutes. Thirdly, he thought two of the drum sections would be “moving in tandem in convoy,” when actually they’ll be traveling separately. “So those are the points of clarification I wanted to make,” Frew said.