Municipal airport continues to add improvements

If you haven’t been past the airport recently, take time to stop in to see the progress being made.  

 The current airport project, which will be a storage building for equipment, is scheduled to start in the next couple of weeks. 

 The airport advisory board has recommended this project for several years to get equipment out of the weather to ensure longer life for each piece. 

 The runways were resurfaced and restriped in the last couple of years and look good.  

 Also, the double-wide that had been there for a number of years was removed a year ago and the area around cleaned up for use. A fuel system is in place and has received a lot of use this year. A new mower is being purchased to help with the ongoing cleanup and maintenance. 

 Manager Jim Metzger reports an increase in visits, use of the courtesy car and shower facilities at the airport. Good work, Jim, Sue and volunteers.

 The water department is working on the intersection of West 9th Street and Pioneer Road this week. Thanks again for your patience.  

 The department is also working on the building of the levy near the water plant.  We appreciate the dirt from the Ridley’s new location. Trucks are hauling dirt daily from the site on East 6th Street to the water plant.  This is a great boon for the water plant as they have been looking for dirt to build the levy for protection of the land around the plant.

 Idaho bridges are becoming a topic of conversation across the state. Washington County will receive funds to replace the Cove Road Bridge and is hoping to find financing for work on the Unity Bridge in the near future.  

 The problem is bridges across the state are aging and in poor repair.  At a recent meeting, I learned some interesting information about Idaho’s bridges. The Local Bridge System is made up of 2,409 bridges longer than 20 ft. Two to four bridges are replaced annually using local federal aid bridge funds.  

 Local agencies using their forces and funds replace approximately 10 bridges a year across the state. As you can see at this rate, repair financing is lacking.  

 In comparison, the ITD system has 1,348 bridges on their system so approximately 64 percent of the bridges are on the Local Bridge System.

 The condition of the local system gives us an insight into the status of our infrastructure. According to ITD, 864 local bridges are older that 50 years and in need of replacement. Commerce across the state is restricted due to these infrastructure needs.  

 A total of 290 local bridges are one lane for two-way traffic; 372 local bridges are load posted or closed limiting their use. An average of 25 additional bridges are load restricted each year. 

 This is a growing problem and impacts our agricultural community in a big way as well as other commercial carriers.

 I’ll talk a little about funding challenges for local bridges next week.

 This is the final week of local governments’ fiscal year. The city is closing out the yearly budget and tightening spending as we do not receive taxes now until after the first of the 2019 year.  Projects that have been budgeted will continue as planned but additional spending is discouraged.

 Well, October is upon us. Hunting and election season begin about the same time.  Campaign signs and advertisements will appear as if by magic.  It is part of our election process.  

 Let’s hope we can all be more positive although that hasn’t often been the case with national races.  

 Usually, our local races are more civil.  Good luck to our local candidates.