Ammon and Idaho Falls talk Hitt Road corridor costs

The city councils of Idaho Falls and Ammon met Tuesday afternoon to determine the costs in the Hitt Road Corridor project.

The Hitt Road Corridor project comes in anticipation of Cabela’s and several other developments near the Hitt Road/Sunnyside Road intersection. The project will improve the intersection with acceleration and deceleration lanes, as well as widen a half-mile stretch of Hitt Road, south of Sunnyside Road. The project is expected to be complete on July 7, 2015.

The project will cost $3.4 million, in which Ammon and Idaho Falls will split. With both cities agreeing in principal to pay $1.7 million each, Idaho Falls City Council President Michael Lehto says the cities’ attorneys will put a project agreement together and make it official.

“Once the project agreement’s there, both cities will have to get together and ratify that,” said Lehto. “My best guess is that should be done by Aug. 15, which is plenty of time.”

Ammon’s City Council President Brian Powell said the project is a huge step for both cities.

“It’s a good commercial development,” said Powell. “Cabela’s is just one portion of what’s actually going to be put in there so we’re excited about it. This is a major development for this community, and I think this it’s a major win for both communities.”

The next project Ammon and Idaho Falls will be working on is a new Memorandum of Understanding, as the current M.O.U. Is more than a decade old.