POCATELLO — As road construction season gets into full swing, Gate City residents will definitely see more progress on the South Valley Connector, and changes to the intersection at Benton Street and South Second Avenue this summer.

    Modifications to Pole Line Road and any work at the intersection of Alameda Road, Jefferson Avenue, Hiline Road and Pocatello Creek Road won’t take place until at least 2017.

    The Benton Street intersection east of the railroad overpass has been identified as a problem, and the City Council authorized an agreement for safety improvements with the Idaho Transportation Department last February.

    Using federal assistance funding, the state will provide about $213,000 for the project with the city’s 7.34 percent match covered by city staff doing the engineering services on the project.

    The project will include the installation of raised islands, improved lighting and reconfiguration of the lanes at the intersection. Benton Street overpass spans the Union Pacific Railroad tracks between Main Street and South Second Avenue.

    “There will be no more through traffic across Benton on Second Avenue,” city engineer Deidre Castillo said.

    The South Valley Connector project is going well, according to Castillo.

     The project that will link S. Second Avenue and S. Fifth Avenue under Interstate 15 is being done by contractor W.W. Clyde of Springville, Utah with a bid of $13.46 million.

    Castillo said the contractor finished updynamite blasting Wednesday and is working on the columns and footings for the new bridge over the Portneuf River and Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

    Work is also taking place on the base for the I-15 northbound bridge that will go over the top of South Valley Road.

    “They’re going to be ramping up crews the next couple of weeks,” Castillo said about work on the connector project.

    To keep the project within budget, Castillo said the city did have to shave some items from the bid. This means city employees will do all the necessary surveying work and a plans for a traffic counter were scrapped.

    “I’ll get the numbers to balance,” Castillo said.

    The engineer said the city has applied for a $250,000 traffic safety grant for improvements on Pole Line Road that would increase the number of left turn lanes, but there will be no creation of a turning lane down the entire length of the road which spans from Garrett Way to Quinn Road.

    Castillo said the main area of concern is from the railroad tracks north of Alameda Road to Quinn Road.

    “We want to look at some striping improvements to decrease the number of crashes,” Castillo said.

    Public feedback from a hearing on the Jefferson-Alameda intersection was shared with the City Council during a March 12 work session. Castillo said there was no real consensus provided by the 191 people who attended a informational meeting last December at Tendoy Elementary School.

    Engineers on the project are favoring two alternatives called Alternative 12A and Alternative 14 A to handle continued growth in traffic flow at the intersection.

    One of the main differences between two alternative being considered are than Alternative 12A would use “thru-turns” located past the intersection on both Hiline and Jefferson to complete a left turn and change direction of travel. Alternative 14A would use direct left turns for all left-turning traffic.

    Of the people attending the December meeting, 30 percent wanted no changes to the existing intersection. Thirty-six percent chose Alternative 12A; 15 percent, Alternative 14A; and 19 percent did not choose any of the two alternatives.

    In a summary of comments shared with council members, 46 percent of the people at the meeting thought both alternatives would increase problems at the intersection and seven percent were worried the alternatives would lower property values.

    Castillo said the next step by the city would be to complete an environmental assessment of the intersection project.

    “Money is an issue,” Castillo said. “It’s not looking good on getting federal dollars.”

    The funding shortfall for the project is estimated to be between $1.6 million and $4.6 million.