Local highway district votes to abandon road

by Philip A. Janquart
 The Weiser Valley Highway District (WVHD) on Monday, Nov. 8 unanimously voted to abandon a road located northwest of Weiser that is currently maintained by the district. 
 It is located near the Snake River and marks the end of Highway 70 going west.
Monday’s public hearing garnered a handful of residents who say public traffic has been a nuisance there for too long.
 “People will use that road to access the river, so you have the people who live at the end of that dealing with trucks and trailers turning around in their driveways,” WVHD Chairman Bruce Winegar said. “They petitioned us about two years ago and we talked about closing it. We contacted the people we needed to in order to get it closed, did the paperwork, and completed all the proper public notices on it.”
 He added that abandoning the road, which is about a mile long, would not affect the district one way or another, but stressed to residents there that utilities, snow plowing, clearing plugged culverts, and other services would become the homeowners’ responsibility.
 Current known utilities include Century Link and Idaho Power, Winegar explaining that those companies would contact them about retaining their easements.
 Resident Jeff Hamm said that fast moving traffic has been a concern and another said he was worried about kids playing on or near the road in addition to unwelcome visits from anglers and others.
 “My main concern about safety on that corner (from north-south Eaton Road) is that you’re driving down the county road at 55 mph and then you get almost to the end and there’s another 55 mph sign, and then within a 1,000 feet or less there is a 15 mph … and I would hope that the road district would change that 55 mph to maybe a 35 and start slowing people down because that’s one of the main problems; they’re going too fast, just blowing through that intersection,” Hamm said.
 Winegar reassured that it would not be a problem to change the signs.
 Commissioners were scheduled to discuss the closure of a second road, located at the north end of Eaton Road, but those invited to the public hearing did not show up, prompting commissioners to table the issue until they could speak with affected residents.
 

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18 E. Idaho St.
Weiser, ID 83672
PH: (208) 549-1717
FAX: (208) 549-1718
 

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