Idaho Falls hosts construction open house

Construction season is one of the most dreaded times of the year.

In order to ease orange cone concerns, the city of Idaho Falls explained plans at an open house Wednesday afternoon.

Starting on July 9, Memorial Drive will get a complete overhaul.

Dozens of people crowded into city hall Wednesday to get a sneak peak of the biggest construction projects of the summer: D Street and Memorial Drive.

Kittie Sieh doesn’t even live in Idaho Falls, but she drives thru all the time. She dropped by Wednesday’s open house for a look.

“I was mostly interested in the Memorial Drive project, because the parking in the center of the street now is so dangerous,” said Sieh.

She said the finished project will be worth the commuting headaches it may cause. Not only will it be safer, but the Greenbelt will expand as crews narrow Memorial.

“These are both projects that really need to be done. So if you can see the need, I think it’s a bit easier to tolerate a little bit of inconvenience,” said Sieh.

The D Street underpass has been a long time coming.

The narrow lanes beneath the railroad tracks will widen after decades of wear and tear.

“I think D Street will be a monumental engineering job. It looks like a biggie,” said Sieh.

It will take at least a year to complete and will be completely shut off to traffic during that time.

City planner Kent Fugal explained to folks at the open-house that crews will do their best to finish quickly with the least impact on their drive to work.

“People shouldn’t be afraid to come downtown. We’re doing our best to keep traffic moving and to keep downtown accessible,” said Fugal.

“I think maybe once you understand what’s happening and get an idea for the time frame, I think there’s a little less grousing,” said Sieh.

The Memorial Drive project is scheduled to finish in late October.

D Street construction should begin in late August and will be closed for a year.

If you missed Wednesday’s open-house, the finished project maps will be up on the city’s website as soon as Thursday.