Category Archives: Highway 95 Re-Route

More Answers Needed from ITD

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Joann Muneta, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News 1/19/13

Recent letters to the editor about the Idaho Transportation Department’s (ITD) proposed rerouting of U.S. Highway 95 have been highly disappointing.

It is unfair and misleading to blame those interested in our environment for errors and omissions made by ITD.  No one in our community advocated waiting ten years to reconsider the highway issue.  Let’s acknowledge that everyone has now, and has had, safety as a primary concern.

Step one is to find out if E-2 is indeed safer, given the higher elevation of that route, which can lead to more ice, snow, and fog.  Other ITD claims for choosing E-2 don’t seem to be reasonable – such as saying E-2 is better because it is shorter, when there is only .09 of a mile difference between the C-3 and E-2 routes.

After safety, it is necessary to consider other issues, including the integrity of Paradise Ridge, one of Moscow’s treasured landmarks, as well as the well-being of the irreplaceable native Palouse Prairie and local flora and fauna.  Ten years ago, I attended every public meeting, focus group, and monthly breakfast meeting held by ITD on this subject. Continue reading →

Local Groups to Host Highway 95 Forum and Field Trip

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The Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition, Palouse Environmental Sustainability Coalition, and concerned Moscow area citizens and groups will hold an informational meeting on Saturday on new routing proposed for U.S. Highway 95 from Thorn Creek Road north to Moscow, followed by a site visit.

On November 26, the Idaho Transportation Department approved a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and technical reports on three alternatives for realignment.

From noon to 2 pm in the Great Room of the 1912 Center, 412 East Third Street, community members will summarize the DEIS, present arguments against the state-preferred eastern alternative, and hold a discussion.  Between 2 and 5 pm, event organizers and participants will carpool to locations along and near the proposed “E2” alternative.

Concerned about Safety

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David Hall, Moscow

The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, 1/18/13

Regarding Wayne Olson’s letter, Time for U.S. 95 Realignment (Letters, January 16, 2013):

Members of the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC) do not believe that the proposed eastern alignment is the safest option.  One reason for doing the environmental impact study (besides that it is required by law) was to include a good analysis of the relative safety of each proposed alignment.  It is apparent to most residents that the weather is “worse” in winter up on the ridge than it is along the current alignment – there is often more snow and fog up on the shoulder of the ridge, which makes driving more hazardous.

The highway could have been completed years ago if the Idaho Transportation Department had upgraded the highway along the present alignment, just as they did for the section to the south.  And they could have put measures into place to make the existing road safer in the interim.  They chose to do neither but instead insist on moving the highway into an arguably less-safe location.  Part of their rationale for the eastern route is that it is the shortest, but it is a mere 0.09 of a mile shorter than the central alignment – a few hundred feet.

It is misguided to lay blame on PRDC and other folks who are as concerned about the public safety as is everyone else.

Anyone who wishes to learn more about this issue is invited to attend a forum at noon on Saturday at the 1912 Center in Moscow.

U.S. Highway 95 DEIS Opinion

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Through excerpts of an interview originally aired on the Monday, January 14, Climate Justice Forum radio program, a local conservationist describes the flaws of a recently released draft environment impact statement (DEIS) proposal by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) to widen and reroute U.S. Highway 95 over Paradise Ridge south of Moscow.  Listen to Al Poplawski of Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition Critiques ITD Draft EIS Preferred Alternative Route on U.S. 95 Re-Alignment South of Moscow, broadcast between 9:45 and 1:43 of the Wednesday, January 16, 2013, KRFP Radio Free Moscow Evening Report, U.S. 95 EIS Opinion.

Highway 95 Forum and Field Trip

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Don't Pave Paradise

On November 26, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) approved a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) and technical reports on three alternatives for proposed realignment of U.S. Highway 95 between Thorn Creek Road and Moscow.  It published the DEIS in early January 2013 and scheduled a public information/comment hearing between 2 and 8:30 pm on Wednesday, January 23, at the Best Western University Inn, 1516 Pullman Road in Moscow, and a public comment period ending on February 23.  Of the three DEIS alternatives of 11 options considered by ITD – an eastern route climbing the western shoulder of scenic Paradise Ridge (E2), a central corridor realigning the middle section of the present 6.5-mile stretch of road (C3), and a western, longer route veering close to Washington (W4) – the ITD-preferred eastern alternative shifts the highway up 400 to 500 feet in elevation and 2,000 feet east, between the Primeland Cooperative grain elevators south of Moscow and the top of Reisenauer Hill.

This E2 route in the recently released DEIS mirrors alternative 10A in a previous environmental assessment (EA) of Highway 95 re-construction plans.  That 2002 version provoked regional citizen concerns for climate-related highway traveler safety, urban sprawl, area aesthetics, wetland preservation, and protection of rare remnants of native Palouse Prairie habitat and wildlife.  The Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC) emerged and, along with the Palouse Group of the Sierra Club and the Idaho Conservation League, successfully challenged the EA, secured a 2003 injunction from U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, and forced ITD to complete the current DEIS review process mandated for all federal highway redesign projects that widen or re-route roadbeds.

A reactivated group of prior and new PRDC members have identified many potential environmental, economic, and social consequences of the purportedly shorter, faster, and safer eastern realignment of Highway 95.  Besides the same ongoing objections, they note that the DEIS E2 alternative would impose the greatest detrimental effects on pine stands, ungulate (deer, moose) conservation and collisions, endangered species, and ecosystem restoration.  It would also create more stream tributary crossings, impervious surfaces, and pollution runoff and challenge flood control.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Fish and Wildlife Service as well as the Idaho Department of Fish and Game have strongly recommended against this eastern Highway 95 corridor, likely advanced by ITD to accommodate international industrial traffic like tar sands megaloads. Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: Al Poplawsky 1-14-13

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On the Monday, January 14, Climate Justice Forum radio program, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes Al Poplawsky, former treasurer of the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition and current executive committee chairperson of the Palouse Group of the Sierra Club in Moscow.  Al will discuss the draft environmental impact statement and technical reports recently released by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), proposing to expand and reroute U.S. Highway 95 south of Moscow through native Palouse Prairie remnants on more weather-exposed Paradise Ridge, likely to accommodate international industrial traffic like tar sands megaloads.  Please share your issue insights and resistance stories during the show broadcast on KRFP Radio Free Moscow between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST live at 92.5 FM and online, by calling the station studio at 208-892-9200.  For more information about this ITD scheme, see the Highway 95 Re-Route section of the WIRT website.  Thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ, the show also covers regional and continent-wide dirty energy developments and climate activism news.  Visit the station website soon to learn how you can adopt our inspiring fellow DJs.

Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition Summary of U.S. 95 Thorn Creek DEIS

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Paradise Ridge 2 Revised

U.S. Highway 95 Thorn Creek Road to Moscow

Draft Environmental Impact Statement

Comment by March 25 to: Comments@ITD.Idaho.gov

Office of Communications, Idaho Transportation Department

P.O. Box 7129, Boise, ID 83707-1129

Sign the Petition and Get Comment Suggestions:

Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition (PRDC)

Website: Paradise-Ridge-Defense.org

Email: PRDC@Paradise-Ridge-Defense.org Continue reading →

Climate Justice Forum: David Hall 1-7-13

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On the Monday, January 7, Climate Justice Forum radio program, Wild Idaho Rising Tide (WIRT) gratefully welcomes David Hall, board of directors president of the Palouse Prairie Foundation, a board member of the Palouse Water Conservation Network, 2012 Moscow Renaissance Fair King, and a core WIRT activist. David will discuss the draft environmental impact statement and technical reports recently released by the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), proposing to expand and reroute U.S. Highway 95 through native Palouse Prairie remnants on Paradise Ridge south of Moscow, likely to accommodate international industrial traffic like tar sands megaloads. Broadcast on KRFP Radio Free Moscow between 7:30 and 9:30 pm PST live at 92.5 FM and online, the show also covers regional and continent-wide dirty energy developments and climate activism news. Please share your Highway 95 issue insights and resistance stories during the WIRT program, by calling the station studio at 208-892-9200. For more information about this ITD scheme, see the Highway 95 Re-Route section of the WIRT website. Thanks to the generous, anonymous listener who adopted program host Helen Yost as his KRFP DJ! Visit the station website soon to learn how you can adopt our inspiring fellow DJs.

Environmental Concerns Remain for U.S. 95 Project

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Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition member plans to address issues at public hearing for DEIS

The Idaho Transportation Department’s draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for its U.S. Highway 95 realignment project from Thorn Creek Road to Moscow is now available, and there is plenty of reading to get done prior to the January 23 public hearing.

The environmental study was required by U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in 2003 when he sided with the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition in a lawsuit against the transportation department.

The coalition claimed that highway regulators did not address concerns regarding plans to reroute that section of U.S. 95 along Paradise Ridge and the damage that might be done to Palouse prairie habitat.

Al Poplawsky, a research associate with the University of Idaho’s department of plant, soil, and entomological sciences, said he will continue to argue against a route that would affect the Palouse prairie habitat, as he did nine years ago. Continue reading →

U.S. Highway 95 Battle Resumes

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Environmental group ‘disappointed’ with latest proposal for road south of Moscow

MOSCOW – An environmental group that sued to block construction on U.S. Highway 95 south of Moscow nine years ago is ramping up to oppose the latest version of the project.

“We’re certainly disappointed that they’re still going with an eastern alternative,” said Al Poplawsky, who served as the treasurer of the Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition during its lawsuit against the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) and the Federal Highway Administration.  “We were hoping otherwise.”

In 2003, the coalition joined with the Palouse Group of the Sierra Club and the Idaho Conservation League to secure an injunction from U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill, which forced the transportation department to complete a lengthy environmental impact review process.

The transportation department released a draft of the environmental impact statement this week that calls for an eastern route for the highway that crosses the western shoulder of scenic Paradise Ridge near Moscow.  The study analyzed 11 potential routes in three corridors: western, central, and eastern.

A similar proposed route triggered the 2003 lawsuit, with wildlife concerns, protection of native Palouse prairie, wetland preservation, urban sprawl, and climate-related safety questions in a list of objections. Continue reading →