ITD lowers speed limits in Silver Valley construction zones

WALLACE –– Last week the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) finally acquiesced to requests from the Shoshone County Commissioners and lowered the speed limits through two of the construction areas along Interstate 90.

Speed limits in two different construction zones in Kellogg and Wallace were reduced to 55 miles per hour late last week, following meetings between Commissioner Tracy Casady and several high-ranking officials with ITD.

The change comes after ITD’s regional officials denied a request from the county to reduce the speeds in late August. In the weeks since that declination, several incidents – including two major accidents involving semi-trucks that shut the highway down for several hours – have taken place.

I-90 through Kellogg is normally a 75 mph speed zone, while the stretch through Wallace is 65 mph. The speed through Kellogg was only reduced to 65 mph, despite it being reduced to a single-lane stretch of narrow highway. Meanwhile, in Wallace, the freeway was reduced to a single-lane, but the speed limit wasn’t changed at all.

After meeting with Lori Wolff, Gov. Brad Little’s Director of Operations, Casady was put in touch with Dan McElhinney, ITD’s Chief Deputy Director. McElhinney was concerned with what he heard from Casady and made very specific promises for the rest of this construction season, as well as when work resumes next spring.

Among those promises were:

• All current I-90 work zone cross-over areas will reduce project-posted speed limits to 55 MPH

• Idaho State Police Lt. Ashby and District construction managers will discuss adding enhanced ISP speed patrols through I-90 work zones

• Freeway cross-over areas when contractors reopen the other projects next spring will all be 55 MPH for consistency

• Next spring, revised centerline paint striping will be added along with new traffic control delineators to be glued or pinned for stability

• Concrete barrier for additional traffic delineation will also reviewed with the contractor

• The team will consider other safety opportunities such as supplementary warning signs, highway lighting, speed radar feedback signs for spring use

• All ITD districts will also review work zone safety opportunities

Many of Casady’s concerns stemmed from the number of calls that the Shoshone County Sherriff’s Office has received concerning the construction areas, whether it be wrong-way drivers, close-call near-miss incidents, or actual accidents. In the past four months, the office had received 63 calls concerning the construction zones. Even with this evidence, regional ITD officials refused to make any changes to the speed limits in the two zones.

“It was a pleasure to meet with Lori Wolff and Dan McElhinney to produce a safer construction zone for our citizens,” Casady said. “They agreed that safety must be a priority. No one should have to lose a loved one or have a loved one suffer from serious injury when there is a way to help prevent this from happening.”

One of the concerns that is cited in ITD’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Devices, the manual that they use to guide them during projects, is that drivers only follow the reduced speed limits if they feel that there is an actual need to do so.

Hopefully, everyone traversing the Shoshone County I-90 Corridor feels that need.

“To those aggressive drivers who become impatient and upset with the rules that need to be adhered to for safety reasons,” Casady said, “there will be an extra emphasis by ISP as a partnership with ITD through these zones.”