Payette bridge
plan will transform
river area
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, April 13, 2008 3:49 AM PDT
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| Cars travel north toward Payette after crossing the truss bridge over the Payette River. The access point to the river, situated between the northbound and southbound bridges, will be eliminated by the construction of the new northbound bridge planned, but Payette County commissioners and ITD officials are discussing the creation of another access point off of Killebrew Drive. |
PAYETTE - The construction of a new northbound Payette River bridge to Payette, replacing the current, one-lane truss bridge constructed in 1927, will give the entire area of land along the Payette River between Fruitland and Payette a new look.
Payette County commissioners, however, are working hard to guarantee a portion of the riverfront — public access to the river — remains available even after the other changes.
Idaho Transportation Department District 3 planners and engineers are currently developing designs for a new two-lane northbound bridge to be situated right next to the current two-lane southbound bridge, which will also be redecked.
Payette County Commissioner Marc Shigeta said the county commissioners and ITD officials have had some discussions to see if the county could take possession of a piece of property off of Killebrew Drive by the river to use as a public park or open-staging area.
Shigeta said, when the new bridge is built to the west, abutting the southbound span, it will swallow up the current open-staging area, which people frequently use as an access point in the summer to float the river. That location has never been situated in a safe place to begin with, Shigeta said, and with the new bridge construction, the county commissioners wanted to see what options were available for creating another area, one that is safe for everybody.
He said, in the heat of the summer, people naturally gravitate to the river.
“And that’s just one of the common spots,” Shigeta said. “And just like anything else, when you disrupt a common spot people will find another one, and sometimes it’s not always for the best.”
With the revival of the bridge, a portion of land that was previously cut off by the span and the realignment of Killebrew Drive would thus be opened up, he said. That area, which Shigeta said was formerly owned by the county before the state gained ownership, is currently being looked at as a public park or staging area by county and state officials. No agreement has been drawn up, as of yet, for the county to take ownership of the property. Shigeta said he did not know the acreage of the area under discussion.
“We’re just trying to get some sense what could occur there more than anything, but we certainly don’t want them to discount an opportunity to do that,” Shigeta said.
He said the county commissioners, and especially commissioner Rudy Endrikat, have consistently applied pressure to ITD officials in the past to replace the northbound Payette River bridge because of the safety concerns, and they are pleased action may finally occur.
Payette Mayor Doug Henderson said earlier this week he was also pleased, but skeptical, because the bridge replacement has been raised and dropped by ITD so many times before.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he said Thursday.
“That’s a fair statement,” ITD District 3 program manager Michael Garza said. “But it’s looking promising.”
Garza said the plans and funding are all laid out, and all ITD projects on the state’s three-year list are looking very stable.
In the past, the Payette River northbound bridge project has been stalled a number of times because of funding cutbacks at the ITD or the project getting transferred to different people after employees left for jobs in the private sector or, in the most recent case, moved to different positions, Scott Gurnsey, assistant district engineer for engineering, ITD District 3, said.
Also, Garza said, the transportation board reviews and prioritizes projects on its list annually, and in the past, the Payette River bridge project had been bumped up or knocked further down the list. That, however, is not likely with the current board members, who want projects slated to actually be completed and not fall into obscurity, Garza said. He said, since he started his position five or six years ago, the project has been fairly constant in its position on the list.
“The current transportation board really doesn’t like having a project disappearing off the books,” he said. “They really frown on projects falling off of that. It’s looking pretty good at this point.”
Garza said adding the Payette River northbound truss bridge venture was designated as a 2009 project, and the designs should be submitted for approval this August. If they are approved, Garza said, the project would likely go out for bid about October. He does not think, however, much, if any, work will begin before next year after the river level recedes.
