Potential Highway 20 changes happening near St. Anthony

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho (KIFI)- The South St. Anthony exit isn't the only change that will occur on the St. Anthony corridor of US Highway 20. 400 N or the South St. Anthony exit at milepost 344 is changing from an At-Grade Intersection to a Tight Diamond Interchange.

However, many of the other At-Grade Intersections along the St. Anthony stretch of Highway 20 are being looked at as well. An At-Grade Intersection is an intersection on a highway that has no on/off ramps and you immediately are crossing or merging onto highway traffic.

"The at-grade planning project that we are currently working on is looking at five at-grade crossings. We are looking at the possibility of closing two of the crossings and the other three with an option for access, limited access to Highway 20 with acceleration and deceleration lanes, with no ability to cross east to west through the traffic," said Gregg Bowman a project manager with the Idaho Transportation Department.

The reason they are looking at the different intersections is due to safety concerns these intersections pose.

"The conflicts that are created by crossing traffic ends and vehicles that are traveling at vastly different speeds. When those incidents occur, they can be catastrophic," Bowman said.

Currently, ITD is taking in public comment to fully understand the situation and the impact removing these intersections will have.

"Anytime that we change the infrastructure of the area, there were a lot of concerns that people access the highway here and now they're going to have to drive, through Saint Anthony now to access Highway 20, and, yes, we do understand that there are impacts to those individuals. And that's why we have these public meetings to get those comments and the feedback of those individuals," Bowman.

More public meetings may be on the way but currently, people with questions or concerns can send their comments to ITD here. The research report will be finished in December and published on the ITD project page.

Any potential major changes are still years away.

"Once we have these alternatives and have a solution going forward, we can then take it and put it into the itip where these can be funded, which once they've been funded, could be anywhere between five and seven years before we can get them planned and designed," Bowman said.