Woman claims road construction has left her driveway unusable
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ROBERTS — Most people find construction work to be slightly annoying and tedious, but one Roberts woman claims it has made getting to her house nearly impossible. After weeks of contacting the state, nothing has changed.
Julie Jackson told EastIdahoNews.com that the Idaho Transportation Department hired contractors to repave the 55 mph state highway that connects to her driveway on June 30. The only problem is now, to turn into her driveway, a vehicle will drop about 9 inches.
Jackson said that after talking to the contractor, she was told that it was not in their contract to do any type of shoulder work or connect to her driveway. After her neighbors made many complaints to the state, representatives came out the next day.
“They measured and told us … they would be back the next week to fix everybody’s driveway,” Jackson stated. This was around the Fourth of July, and no one has returned to fix the road.
She said that some neighbors have chosen to spend hundreds of dollars to buy rocks or dirt to fix the problem because they couldn’t wait any longer to hear back from the state.
“What I worry about is the safety issue,” Jackson said. “If I have people coming over to my house, and I forget to tell them … it’s a danger.”
Jackson has four drivers in her house she is worried about, including her children.
On July 28, workers did come back and painted lines on the road, but they had not responded to Jackson or her neighbors’ messages.
“I just don’t feel like we are important,” she adds. “I feel like in Roberts, we kind of get the shaft because we are out here in the middle of nowhere.”
ITD tells EastIdahoNews.com that crews will be working on the driveways over the next few weeks by filling them with gravel or asphalt. They say they have reached out to Jackson and other residents since she spoke with EastIdahoNews.com.