Road work
New Plymouth will showcase new pavement for U.S. Highway 30
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
LarryM@argusobserver.com
Friday, September 18, 2009 10:25 AM PDT
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| Larry Meyer | Argus Observer
Kenneth Crosby (near side) and Kyle Spence operate the machine which is chewing up the old asphalt and dumping it via a belt into waiting trucks in downtown New Plymouth Thursday. |
NEW PLYMOUTH —Julia Harrison exudes an optimistic attitude regarding the street work in front of Zions Bank in New Plymouth.
Harrison, the branch manager of Zions Bank in this small Payette County town, said she can see the advantages of the work.
“I think, when it’s done, it will be nice,” she said. Harrison, of course, was referring to the massive road upgrade project to put down new asphalt on U.S. Highway 30 through New Plymouth. Motorists traveling through the area already know they have to go a little slower, and it is a little more difficult to get through the downtown area as crews carve up the street to prepare for new asphalt.
“They’re grinding and taking all the old asphalt out,” Eddie Gaona, a flagger working on the project said. “The project started Monday.” The upgrade effort extends from the west edge of New Plymouth to the junction of U.S. Highway 30 and Idaho Highway 72, about two miles in length, Reed Hollinshead, spokesperson for the Idaho Transportation Department, said. After the top layer of asphalt is removed, crews will start pulverizing the next layer early next week, Hollinshead said, and then add a new surface.
“They are taking off between two and four inches for the majority of the two-mile stretch,” he said. For approximately 1,000 feet of the highway, no material will be removed, and just an overlay applied, Hollinshead said.
The project is scheduled to be completed about the middle of October, he said. The guardrail at the Noble Canal will also be updated and several old pipes in the right-of-way are to be replaced.
“It is a $716,000 job,” Hollinshead said, and it is being paid out of the department’s budget.
There is no stimulus money or other special funding, he said. The main contractor is Nampa Paving and Asphalt. The contractor performing the asphalt removal is Coughlin Company.
The New Plymouth highway project was originally scheduled for 2010.
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