Meeting scheduled to discuss busy Idaho Falls intersection
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The following is a news release from the city of Idaho Falls.
Community members are invited to attend an informational meeting regarding future intersection improvements at W. 17th Street and Rollandet Street. The intersection improvement project is slated for construction in 2022.
The meeting will be held Wednesday, June 23 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Maeck Education Center at Idaho Falls Zoo, 2940 Carnival Way. For those who are unable to attend, the meeting will be recorded with a link to the recording placed on the home page of the City’s website as well as the Public Works’ webpage.
The purpose of the meeting is to review design recommendations for the intersection as well as the intersection at W 19th Street and Leslie Avenue. Staff from Idaho Falls Public Works will be available to show the proposed design, get feedback on potential impacts of the design, and answer questions. 17th Street and Rollandet
In 2016, a Road Safety Audit (RSA) was completed by an independent multidisciplinary team. The RSA focused on 17th Street, Yellowstone Highway to Hitt Road after citizens identified 17th Street as a major priority for improvements. This corridor is unique to other high volume arterials in Idaho Falls due to development changes from mostly housing with direct access to 17th Street on the western end to dense commercial development on the eastern end.
According to 2015 traffic count data conducted during the audit, the major east to west arterial has 35,000 to 40,000 vehicles per day. Five year accident history data for the corridor revealed 618 accidents that were reported, two of which were fatal.
The RSA resulted in many recommendations to the corridor which the City has been making since the completion of the audit. Some of the improvements include moving power poles, adding medians to restrict turn movements, removing signals, adding advanced signage, working with property owners to reduce access points, and recalculating signal timing.
“This project is one more significant step toward our goal of making 17th Street safer for motorists and pedestrians,” states City Engineer, Kent Fugal.
A letter notifying all area residents and business owners of the meeting was mailed out by the City last week.