Entering its final year of construction, massive interchange project expected to leave ‘legacy’

POCATELLO — A massive construction project that has been the snarling traffic near Pocatello for several years is on track to be completed in 2025.

The project to completely revamp and upgrade the Pocatello/Chubbuck interstate interchange between Interstate 15 and Interstate 86 is now in its final year of planned construction. It started in August 2022, with the removal of the old Chubbuck Road overpass and the Idaho Transportation Department expects work to be complete this August.

“As we get closer and closer to the end of it, what we talk about quite often is this is a legacy project. It’s going to last 80 years the way the new design is set up,” said ITD spokesman Justin Smith.

Most recently, Chubbuck Road reopened in December, allowing travelers from Chubbuck to take a more direct route into the Highland area rather than using New Day Parkway or East Alameda Road to get to Olympus Drive. Smith said it will have to briefly close again in the summer to finish the roadway.

Also notably, the old northbound-to-westbound ramp that allowed travelers to get on I-86 has been closed, replaced with a collector distributor ramp. Northbound travelers exit to the right, and then pass under I-15 to get to I-86.

Traffic from Pocatello Creek Road will have the option to either merge with traffic and go west or continue north towards the Northgate exit and Idaho Falls, merging with travelers exiting I-86 to go north on I-15. Currently, a detour is in place that prevents drivers from merging here onto I-86.

There have been five bridges finished in the last year, out of eight bridges completed in total. Smith said that replacing these bridges was necessary to bring them up to modern standards, the previous structures being built in the 1960s.

Carrying out this project required construction crews to:

• Move 247,319 cubic yards of dirt
• Import 143,500 tons of structural dirt
• Pour 4,000 cubic yards of concrete
• Place 55,894 tons of asphalt
• Install 568,862 pounds of metal reinforcement

All of these statistics came from 2024, according to a news release from ITD. The following items need to be completed before the project is finished:

• “The new southbound-to-westbound ramp will be completed.
• The old northbound-to-westbound ramp will be removed.
• The temporary southbound-to-westbound ramp will be removed.
• The roadway north of the Pocatello Creek on-ramp will be built to its final grade. This will allow movement from Pocatello Creek to Chubbuck and remove the detour currently in place.
• The new Chubbuck Road underpass roadway will be completed.
• A chip seal will be applied to extend the life of the new asphalt pavement installed by the project, and the road will be restriped to its final lane configuration.
• Bridge approaches will be smoothed out to remove bumps made during construction.”

Smith wanted to remind drivers to observe the 55 miles per hour speed limit through the work zone, which will remain in place until the project is completed.

“You don’t know where we’re going to have crews working and most people don’t know where trucks will be entering and leaving the interstate as they continue to work,” Smith said.

Smith also said that over the coming months, drivers should navigate the interchange carefully, especially if they haven’t traveled on it before.

“We’re excited to see the project wrap up this summer and we’re really excited to see how traffic will start smoothing out in a number of areas,” Smith said.