INTRODUCTION
Thank you for your involvement in the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD)'s U.S. 95 Thorncreek Road to Moscow project. The project will determine, design and construct an alignment for nearly 6.5 miles of U.S. 95 in Latah County.
Public input has helped ITD determine the alternatives/alignments being considered for U.S. 95 from Thorncreek Road to Moscow. It also has helped determine evaluation criteria and studies to conduct for the project. For more project background, click here.
Project Update (Winter 2007)
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the last 6.5 miles of U.S. 95 from Throncreek Road to Moscow was submitted to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in October.
The document was delayed last summer during an internal review at ITD headquarters. The ITD team recommended that the wildlife section of the document be submitted to a third party for review.
Bill Ruediger of Wildlife Consulting completed the third-party wildlife review in September. Click here for his wildlife assessment.
ITD expects the FHWA review process to take several months.
You will be notified through this newsletter and local newspapers when the DEIS is available for public review. Copies will be available on CD, at the project Web site and in several locations throughout the community. During the review process, a public hearing will be held to gather testimony.
Public testimony will be incorporated into the Final EIS and sent to the Idaho Transportation Board, which will then submit it to the FHWA. The FHWA can then issue a Record Decision that includes the final preferred alignment and approves the Final EIS. This will allow ITD to begin final design of the preferred alignment and begin to purchase the right-of-way necessary to construct the roadway.
|
