Road work around new high school focuses on turn lanes
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IDAHO FALLS — As the opening date of Thunder Ridge High School gets closer, officials are working on roads in the area to handle increasing congestion.
Thunder Ridge is being constructed near 45th East (Crowley Road) and First Street and is set to open this fall.
As it stands, the road is divided into two lanes, and there are no plans to widen either street in the immediate future to prepare for increased traffic.
However, some road upgrades are being planned, Headwaters Construction Superintendent Mike Blaser said.
“We’re just adding turning lanes to all the entrances and exits (of the high school lot), and then on the intersection of 45th and First Street, we’re adding turning lanes as well,” Blaser said.
John Pymm, Bonneville Joint School District 93’s director of facilities and operations, said the intersection on First and 45th is being widened to include multiple turning options. There’ll be a left turn lane, a center lane, and a right turn lane when you approach the intersection. Pymm said the county required the district to make those changes.
“Entranceways to the school on both First and 45th have already been widened to do a deceleration or acceleration lane,” Pymm said. “They’ve widened it enough that if you’re coming up to turn into the school you can pull over, and traffic could still get by you.”
Bonneville County Assistant Public Works Director Lance Bates confirmed the plans for the widening don’t span further down 45th or First, just around the immediate parts of the school.
Pymm said he hopes the widening of the roads, and intersection improvements will help with issues at the intersection.
“The school district is doing whatever we can do to work with the county. The sad reality of the county is they rely heavily on state and federal grants,” Pymm said.
Bates says it could be some five to six years for drastic improvements to be made. He said the county has plans to change the intersection at 45th and First to a roundabout. It could cost up to $2 million and would install a large one lane roundabout with room to expand to two lanes at a future date.
“Be careful. We know it’s going to be a challenge for a while until some improvements are made. Just finding the money to do those improvements is our challenge right now,” Bates said.