Highway plan may delay other projects

BOISE – Some legislators fear Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s $1.6 billion highway construction plan could make it difficult for the state to build roads not already included in the plan.

If Congress does not boost the money given to the state annually for highway construction and repay its debts, the state could still borrow to finish out a five-year schedule of planned highway work.

But just $23 million would be left for an annual budget for any other road construction projects for the next decade. For five more years, the state’s road budget will only top $80 million.

Now the state can work with as much as $200 million a year for pay-as-you-go highway projects.

Even if the governor’s projections for federal funding prove true, there could be times when more than 40 percent of Idaho’s federal cash will be earmarked for debt repayment.

The bond repayment schedule is expected to last 25 years.

Caldwell Republican Rep. Darrell Bolz is concerned the debt ratio would be too high for the state to manage.

Idaho Transportation Department Director David Ekern said money for pay-as-you-go projects could be limited, but many would be out of the way and already paid for under the Kempthorne bonding proposal.

Emmett Republican Rep. Kathy Skippen said the plan will work, but said the money available for cash projects may be skimpy some years.

“All we’re doing is accelerating the projects that are really needed,” Skippen said. “I think you have to (choose between) having all of the money that we normally would have had in those years and speeding it up.”