Last modified: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 10:10 AM PDT Speed limit evolves into key topic at Fruitland transportation session By JESSICA KELLER ARGUS OBSERVER FRUITLAND — Speed was the big topic for many people who attended the first session of the U.S. Highway 95 corridor study public hearings hosted by the Idaho Department of Transportation at Fruitland City Hall Monday. Two more sessions will be held today beginning at 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Payette City Hall. The Payette sessions will conclude this public meeting portion of the plan. As ITD Senior Planner Phil Choate explained to a full house at Monday’s first session that the public meeting, was intended to explain to the public what the corridor study plan entailed and to gather thoughts from residents on what they believed some areas of concern were. Choate said the corridor study’s goal is to develop a 20-year master plan, or in this case until 2030, identify current and future needs and set priorities for improvements. The Payette County meetings for the corridor study only addressed the portion of U.S. Highway 95 from a little before Palisades Junction to just past Payette to the north. “It’s a local road to you, but it’s a major arterial to the state, which is how it wants to manage it,” Choate said. Choate said the master plan for the area wasn’t just an ITD vision, however, and would be designed to incorporate the needs of the local jurisdictions, including Payette, Fruitland, Payette County and Highway District No. 1. After explaining more on the different aspects of the plan, Choate turned the meeting over to the audience, whom he said were free to ask questions, examine the consultants’ work at various stations and give comments. While some audience members had questions about the highway’s future through the corridor, many wanted to know if there were any plans to address the speed through the stretch of highway in the area and particularly the section between Palisades and Fruitland. Karen Doherty, HDR, one of the consultants working with the state on this plan, said, while everyone seemed to agree with the critical accident areas along the highway, speed was a subject they kept coming back to. “As far as I’m concerned it ought to be 45 all the way through,” Hudson Shake, who lived near Palisades, said. Many others agreed speed needed to be addressed. “The varying speed was a very large concern, as well as consistent enforcement of speed limits,” Doherty said of the two main topics. Doherty said since speed was mentioned as a safety factor to using the highway, it could be examined more closely.