Feds consider plan to widen dam road
Residents have opposed its proposed closure
BOISE – A federal agency may have found an $8.4 million alternative to closing the road across a southwestern Idaho dam because of terrorism concerns, after residents said such a move would be a major inconvenience and hurt commerce.
The Bureau of Reclamation may widen Riverside Road across Lower Deer Flat Dam near Caldwell, making the century-old dam less susceptible to explosives but leaving the road open to automobiles, farm trucks and cyclists. Destruction or catastrophic failure of the dam could flood 35,000 people downstream.
Canyon County Commissioner David Ferdinand told the Associated Press on Thursday that the federal agency has indicated it favors this plan.
The Bureau of Reclamation has cited provisions in the USA Patriot Act, passed soon after Sept. 11, 2001, in its decision to address security concerns at the dam. But word of possible closure roused residents accustomed to using the roughly 4,000-foot-long dam road to navigate southwestern Idaho’s agricultural hinterlands.
Bob Bloxham, owner of Lake Lowell Market for 27 years, said the possible compromise was good news.
“As far as my business is concerned, that’s the only way I would survive,” Bloxham said. “Anything that they do that doesn’t divert traffic is not going to hurt my business. Unless, of course, they close the road for two years to do the widening.”
Widening Riverside Road is among five alternatives in a draft environmental analysis released by the Bureau of Reclamation this month. Others include the disputed plan to close the dam and divert traffic; doing nothing, which wouldn’t mitigate security concerns; and reconstructing the road downstream for as much as $16.5 million.
The Bureau of Reclamation is taking comment on alternatives through Feb. 15, but Canyon County officials who have met with federal authorities in hopes of working out a solution are growing more comfortable closure is no longer likely.
“It’s our understanding that’s what they’re doing, they’re going to widen the embankment,” said Ferdinand.