Idaho governor seeks input on road, bridge funding

Gov. Otter has made a projected $240 million annual shortfall in transportation infrastructure funding his main priority, after failing to win support for increased fees and taxes for roads in the 2008 Legislature.

The Associated Press

7/16/2008

CALDWELL, Idaho — Aides to Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter are counting on meetings like one this week in Caldwell to drum up support among Idaho residents for new fee or tax hikes aimed at improving Idaho's roads and bridges.

Otter has made a projected $240 million annual shortfall in transportation infrastructure funding his main priority, after failing to win support for increased fees and taxes for roads in the 2008 Legislature.

At the Monday evening meeting, some of the 100 people who attended offered several ideas on improving Idaho's highways, including erecting fewer stoplights, making contributions to new road building and maintenance voluntary and boosting mass transit. Otter is waiting for five similar meetings elsewhere in Idaho before crafting a final proposal.

"By the end of the summer, everybody will understand the gravity of the situation, and we will agree on some legislation," Clete Edmunson, Otter's special assistant on transportation, told the Idaho Statesman.

Meetings are scheduled Wednesday in Coeur d'Alene; Thursday in Lewiston; July 22 in Idaho Falls; July 23 in Pocatello; and Aug. 5 in Twin Falls.

One big obstacle facing road officials and Otter is the steep rise in the price of gasoline.

As a result, proposed increases in the state's 25-cent-per-gallon gas tax — something that would have to be approved by the Legislature — will once again be a difficult sell. Conservative lawmakers who dominate the state House and Senate also rejected Otter's proposal for a six-fold hike of registration fees this year to $150 per car.

They promise to be leery yet again of fee increases when the new session starts in January.

In southwestern Idaho, residents' traffic concerns often center around traffic jams on Interstate 84 connecting the burgeoning communities of Caldwell, Nampa, Meridian, Eagle and Boise. Rush hour often resembles a parking lot. Though millions are being pumped into the thoroughfare running east from the Oregon border through the "Connecting Idaho" roads program, some say it's not enough.

"This is a huge issue. People are upset because they see everything deteriorating," said Milt Erhart, a Meridian Chamber of Commerce member fed up with gridlock.

Transportation Department Director Pamela Lowe said 19 percent of the pavement on Idaho roads is in need of repair, a number that will jump to 40 percent in the next five years without increased funding.

"We are rapidly approaching a time when we are not going to be able to fund our basic transportation needs," she said.