• Idaho Transportation Department
• A study conducted by ITD shows the current offerings of Valley roads.

Ahead of a Thursday, May 24, groundbreaking in Eagle, members of a new group have organized to petition development of State Highway 16.

The Central Valley Expressway Coalition hopes to urge lawmakers and elected officials to develop Highway 16 into the Central Valley Expressway, a major roadway running north-south, connecting Interstate 84 to Meridian, Chinden Boulevard, State Street and ultimately the city of Emmett.

Members of the CVEC have organized to petition city, county and state transportation departments to develop the route as a transportation corridor, calling the expressway an economic driver and a means of alleviating valley traffic congestion.

The group suggests securing funding through the GARVEE bond system, with costs between $500 million and $800 million.

On their website, the group cites Dr. John Church of Idaho Economics, who estimates the Central Valley Expressway could bring $1.9 billion in new revenue to the State over 30 years.

Currently, State Highway 16 extends from Emmett to State Highway 44, which becomes State Street as it cuts through Ada County. According to this group, the Idaho Transportation Department has plans to develop the road and extend it over the Boise River to reach I-84, but has yet to secure funding to complete the project.

Lt. Gov. Brad Little, Boise Republican Sen. Chuck Winder, ITD Director Jerry Whitehead and CVEC Chairwoman Mary May will break ground on the first phase of the project in Eagle, off Moon Valley Road, on Thursday.

Pam Lowe, the former chief of the Idaho Transportation Department, said she was never given a bad review yet was fired in 2009 because of what she alleged was a political power play, will continue her legal battle against the state of Idaho.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Bush filed a decision on Saturday, shooting down the state's argument that Lowe was an at-will employee who could be fired at any time. Bush agreed with Lowe's attorneys that the state must show a reason for her firing. By law, Bush said in a 57-page decision, the Idaho Transportation Board may only remove its director for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, malfeasance and nonfeasance in office."

Lowe alleged that an ITD board member had made sexist comments about her and that she was pressured to preserve $50 million in contracts for URS-Washington Group and CH2M Hill that she felt were politically motivated.

No big surprise - the intersection of Eagle Road and Fairview Avenue tops the latest list of the busiest intersections, tracked by the Ada County Highway District. ACHD presents the list every three years. The rankings are used as a tool for planning and adjustments of traffic signals as needed.

In fact, 400 fewer vehicles used the Eagle-Fairview intersection during rush hour in 2011 when compared to 2008. According to ACHD, 6,300 vehicle were tracked during the average peak hour at the crossway.

Coming in No. 2 was Front and Ninth streets in Downtown Boise, with 6,220 vehicles, a 7 percent jump from 2008. Rounding out the Top 5 were Franklin and Milwaukee, Front and 13th and Eagle and the I-84 Westbound Ramp.

"One of the biggest jumps we saw on this year's list was the Eagle and Ustick intersection, which moved from 18th to seventh," said Terry Little, ACHD traffic services manager.

Eagle Road appears most frequently on the Top 12 list with five intersections. Front Street appears twice on the list.

The Idaho Legislture's House Transportation Committee considered a bill Thursday that would make Idaho Transportation Department the final arbiter of speed limits on highways within city limits across the Gem State.

Currently, Idaho's local governments have the authority to lower the speed on highways within their cities, a power, bill supporters said, was being abused to increase revenues through speeding tickets.

The sponsor, Twin Falls Republican Rep. Leon Smith, said small towns like Bellevue, Idaho, were the inspiration for the bill.

"I do remember a few little towns that slowed you down to next to nothing," said Smith. "My inspiration for this bill is the town of Bellevue. It’s hard to justify a speed that low unless you have a lot of pedestrian traffic or schools or something."

In the Adams County village of Council, as an example, Highway 95 snakes through the tiny town, passing the community's thrift store, local grocer and a school. In just under a mile and a half, the speed limit drops from 65 to 45 mph, and near the school to just 20 mph.

Continental Airlines flew off into history this weekend, leaving hundreds of airports across the nation as United Airlines put the finishing touches on its takeover of Continental. Even visitors to Continental.com were automatically redirected to United.com.

Continental has stopped using its "CO" code, meaning no more Continental Airlines tickets, or flights - even though the Continental name is still painted on some planes.

The two airlines merged in 2010 but have been integrating operations slowly. The most significant changeover occurred Saturday as United converted to a new computer reservation system. The conversion involved moving millions of reservations from both the Continental and United systems into a single platform.

A United official said that the conversion was responsible for a higher-than-normal call volume to its customer service operations. A notice on the United website said the call volumes were "extraordinarily high" and some hold times exceeded an hour.

The Boise City Council put an effort to rewrite the city's taxi ordinances in park Tuesday night, following more than two hours of testimony on the proposals, almost all negative.

The plans, drawn up by Boise legal and adminstrative staff, would have made some big changes to the city's taxi ordinances, including new requirements that drivers demonstrate the ability to speak and understand English, a week-long extension of specific pick-up and drop-off zones in the downtown area, and restrictions on the age of vehicles.

A human traffic jam of taxi drivers and owners stood before the council, which met at the Idaho Statehouse while City Hall is under construction, urging the lawmakers to say "no" to the changes.

"This is not San Francisco-east," said David Welch. "This is not Cape Cod-west. This is Boise."

Each person testifying had a problem with at least one of the proposed changes. As the evening progressed, the increasing negative comments caused enough congestion to get council members' attention.

"My guess is that we need to take a little time," said Councilman David Eberle. "We should consider some of the anticipated consequences."

Frequent fliers aboard Alaska Airlines may be familiar with the air carrier's 30-year tradition of placing prayer cards on meal trays. But the airline has decided to ground the practice beginning next week.

Effective Wed., Feb. 1, fliers will no longer receive excerpts from Old Testament psalms printed atop photographs of sunsets or beaches. An Alaska Airlines spokeswoman said the carrier got more positive comments than negative ones, but lately, opinion has shifted.

"Religious beliefs are deeply personal and sharing them with others is an individual choice," said airline CEO Bill Ayer.

Many customers had assumed that the prayer cards were the idea of former CEO Bruce Kennedy, who did missionary work after leaving Alaska Airlines, but it was actually a marketing executive who brought the idea over from Continental Airlines.

Hate driving in the snow? You're not the only one. Here are some fun facts from the Ada County Sheriff's Office about driving in the Treasure Valley Wednesday.

Between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. there were:

106 crashes without injury
Five crashes with injury
69 slide-offs
44 stalled vehicles

Those numbers include all incidents reported to both the county and Idaho State Police. Be careful out there.

While it failed in the 2010 and 2011 legislative sessions, Republican Sen. James Hammond of Coeur d'Alene is confident that 2012 will show another texting-while-driving bill. Previously, the bills languished at the Capitol building, getting shelved despite a visit from some outspoken teens in 2010.

While Hammond has a bill on the agenda for Thursday, Jan. 19, he says he's filing it—for now. A bill on the House side, possibly co-sponsored by Democrat Sen. Les Bock from Boise, is in the works.

"There’s already a similar texting bill on the House side, and apparently, they feel there’s some degree of opportunity for success for that," said Hammond, chairman of the Senate's Transportation committee.

The bill he's sponsoring, said Hammond, would give a stiff penalty for texting while driving. But after reviewing the text this week, he's not sure if a misdemeanor or a citation is the right approach.

A BBC investigation alleges that a British yacht delivery company has continually put sailors in harm's way, including an incident involving an Idaho man who was marooned for 10 hours in the Atlantic.

In February 2007, Kevin Klinges of Ketchum was part of a crew instructed to deliver a vessel from France to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but 30-foot swells and 58-knot winds capsized the boat. Klinges and another sailor survived, but their captain died in the frigid waters.

A special investigation, scheduled to air tonight on the BBC, said it discovered that Reliance Yacht Management continually ignored warnings about likely sea conditions and strong winds. The company, based in Farnborough, Hampshire, in England, regularly sends yachts across the world, contracting with skippers and crews to carry out the deliveries.

The BBC said Reliance officers continually put pressure on sailors to deliver, in spite of protests of bad weather or unsafe conditions. The company has already been sued for negligence by a survivor of one of the sailors.