A KRFP Radio Free Moscow interview with former Paradise Ridge resident and current Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC) member Lahde Forbes reveals that Highway 95 realignment along a central route analyzed by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) would only encroach upon eight businesses, not displace them as described in ITD’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS).  Also contrary to DEIS estimates, an ITD-preferred eastern re-routing alternative would displace an entire mobile home park, house, and two supporting domestic wells, while the PRDC-favored central alignment would only dislodge one home.  The feature Friday edition newscast also airs testimony offered by Mary Ullrich at the ITD public hearing on the DEIS on January 23.  Listen to between 20:36 and 0:50 of the news story Resident Says Talk with ITD District Right-of-Way Manager Shows Business and Residence Displacement Figures in ITD Draft U.S. 95 EIS are Wrong on the February 15, 2013, KRFP Evening Report, U.S. Highway 95 Displacements Wrong.

In the wake of 75 megaloads of equipment shipments initiating an international industrial corridor to Alberta tar sands mining operations, the oil corporation accommodating Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) plans to re-locate and expand 6.5 miles of two-lane U.S. Highway 95 just south of Moscow over a cherished, natural, local landmark, Paradise Ridge.  Higher and more exposed to winter weather and thus dangerous driving conditions, ITD’s preferred four-lane route would risk critical patches of the remaining 0.1 percent of the native Palouse Prairie ecosystem that thrived throughout the region before agricultural monocultures of wheat and beans.  Other potential alternative routes would skirt the ridge, enhance highway traveler safety, and impose much less environmental and cultural damage.

Please join members of the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC) and Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) in reaching out to the Moscow area community to encourage petition signatures and comments on ITD’s proposal before the Monday, March 25, deadline for public input.  Volunteers are gathering in the dining area near the door of the Moscow Food Co-Op (121 East Fifth Street in Moscow) at 4 pm on weeknights and at 10 am on weekends, between February 15 and March 24, to circulate and distribute the Highway 95 DEIS B&W Brochure 3, along with the petition and member sign-up sheets, to downtown passersby: Join us!

See the PRDC brochure text, detailing the discrepancies in ITD’s draft environmental impact statement for the highway realignment project, sign the petition to the Idaho governor and ITD, and get more comment suggestions at the PRDC website and the Highway 95 Re-Route section of the WIRT blogsite, where more belated posts will emerge soon.  Email PRDC@Paradise-Ridge-Defense.org with your insights, suggestions, and questions, but most importantly, send your comments for the record to Comments@ITD.Idaho.gov and/or Office of Communications, Idaho Transportation Department, P.O. Box 7129, Boise, ID 83707-1129 before March 25.

The Moscow city council and supervisor deliberate city concerns about a proposal by the Idaho Transportation Department to re-route Highway 95 south of Moscow and about city submission of a notebook of comments from the council and commissions.  Listen to the KRFP Radio Free Moscow news story Moscow Sustainable Environment Commission to Weigh-In on U.S. Highway 95 Re-Route Plans between 14:32 and 9:19 of the February 12, 2013, Evening Report, Idaho Rivers United on U.S. Highway 12.

This special Friday addition to regular news coverage features testimony at the January 23 public hearing hosted by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to examine its draft environmental impact statement for U.S. Highway 95 re-routing south of Moscow.  Susan Flack, Jim Anderson, Al Poplawsky, and Tim Hatten address their concerns and commendations of various ITD alternatives of this proposal.  Listen to the KRFP Radio Free Moscow story More ITD Testimony on U.S. Highway 95 between 14:46 and 1:14 of the February 8, 2013, Evening Report, USFS Has U.S. Highway 12 Jurisdiction.

The Palouse Prairie Foundation and the White Pine Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society will hold a discussion of the proposed realignment of U.S. Highway 95 between Moscow and Thorncreek Road, and how it might affect native flora and fauna.

The presentation is 7 p.m. Thursday at the 1912 Center, 412 E. Third St.

Bruce and Colleen Bumgarner, left, look at maps of proposed routes for the U.S. Highway 95 Thorncreek Road to Moscow Project during an Idaho Transportation Department hearing at the Best Western Plus University Inn in Moscow on Wednesday (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo).

At the University Inn in Moscow on Wednesday (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo)

Jack Flack, left, speaks during an open-microphone session at an Idaho Transportation Department hearing at the Best Western Plus University Inn in Moscow on Wednesday (Moscow-Pullman Daily News/Geoff Crimmins photo).

ITD public hearing shows mixed support for three alternatives

The Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) experienced plenty of foot traffic during its public hearing on Wednesday to gather opinions about plans to reroute and widen U.S. Highway 95 from Thorncreek Road to Moscow.