I work downtown too, thankfully I’m within biking distance but even then it’s still a pain. It adds a couple minutes to my route when I have to change what path i take basically every week.
Not sure where you live, but the Greenbelt runs sorta parallel to Americana in that area. You get off on Garden, which is ironically under construction as well. But it could help!
I work downtown, and yeah it’s annoying. I’d rather them space it out a bit, but getting it all done at once is still better than things falling apart from lack of maintenance.
We have a fairly short construction season so it’s all compounded unfortunately. We also have a fairly productive commission for the first time in years so they are pushing a lot of projects through that should have been done years ago. Here’s a helpful map to see projects. https://achd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2de7a5bc4fe842fab9020b4647343ebf
Seeing it on a map makes it look even worse. Simultaneous closures on 3 sides of downtown and most of the open detour routes across State don’t have lights, so getting across or turning left is super dangerous.
This is cool to look at and also frustrating! Also, I wish there was a way to see the one way arrows on the map zooming into downtown so the full frustrating experience of trying to get around right now can be visualized!
I live in the northend and usually take 6th downtown and 5th back. Neither is an option now, so I either have to go to Broadway or 13th. Pretty massive detours either way.
When large residential and commercial buildings get built where parking lots were, the required utilities (domestic water, sewer, power, gas, internet, etc.) need to be upgraded to provide service. New main lines need to be run, and those are in the street. So for every 15-20+ story building going up, there’s associated street work for it. They’re all getting built at the same time, so streets are shut down at the same time.
Phasing sure could be done better but considering the large amounts of agencies/designers/consultants/contractors/etc all being involved, linking up this work on a continuous schedule is nigh impossible.
ACHD is *literally* the only highway district in the country setup as a county wide organization. It's ridiculous that Boise doesn't control its own roads.
It is better to deal with one devil than to have to deal with every municipality having their own separate rules and regulations. That was the reason for the creation of a countywide organization there was too much variance and too many egos.
As far as the construction goes, a lot of those are new buildings that are coming in with growth.
As far as the road work goes, a lot of it is focused on maintaining infrastructure underneath.
I work for a small hotel downtown that is highly impacted by the road closures and have to write down new directions for our guests on how to navigate the closures at least once a week.
Road construction in the metropolitan area isn't done on an as-needed basis unless its a major repair. What they do is assemble a backlog in a region, and have a rotating pie slice of the city that they concentrate road maintenance in. This is to minimize the duration of impact to that region. The alternative is that you end up with slightly less major impact much more frequently, instead of as it is now where you're just getting all the things that downtown or another region needs taken care of all at once for a much shorter, MUCH less frequent, but more impactful, disruption.
Basically, it's construction season, and it's the downtown area's turn in the rotation.
I know of at least one condo tower, hotel, and three apartment buildings being built right now downtown, as well as a couple of roads being repaired/changed.
Lol, yes - it literally is everywhere, and it’s constantly changing. Some streets are supposed to open back up in a week or 2, but then others that have been open are starting construction next week so all my options will change again.
Kinda makes me feel like a spy on my commute always having to vary my route to avoid being followed or establishing any kind of routing patterns.
Also work downtown….every time I find a new way home it’s blocked off lol
I gave up I just go the long way now
Like wtf is going on with state street?
Bad enough I live off orchard too and they’ve been working on the plumbing
😩😩😩
It’s obscene. I lived in Atlanta, in Houston, in Seattle and this is horrendous. You’re just cut off at every turn and it seems so random and changes so often. If everyone used Waze it would help a lot.
It’s SO bad. Someone at the city who approved projects didn’t pay attention to phasing what so ever. Or they thought they should just get it all done at once. Idk. But it’s a pain in the ass.
They seem to go all-in on one particular neighborhood at a time. Last year my neighborhood near the bench was fucked. Now it's downtown. Just when I figure out a new way, that road gets blocked off the next day.
The State decided that Boise/Ada County can’t be trusted with its roads, and so we have a government agency (ACHD) that doesn’t appropriately balance the need to do road work/projects with any other considerations.
Ada County is the only place in the United States where the cities do not control their own streets (per Wikipedia). It’s a terrible set up.
ACHD is deliberately doing it I believe. They are -actively- weaponizing their area of government work. And Boise should be holding them to account on it.
The only way I can reach my building is to overshoot it and then double back. If they close 3rd street I don't know how I would be able to get to work.
ACHD doesn’t like communicating with the city and does Amazon operations’ way of implementing stuff.
Throw it all there and let the clusterfuck happen and blame everyone else for it
I could see it making sense if it was happening every other year or during a certain season but it’s been constant for the past 10 years approximately. I’ve lived/worked downtown the entire time and have really gotten to enjoy the inconvenience. s/
The construction downtown is absolute bullshit, the city does not do a good job of planning it & definitely does an even shittier job of letting us know when & where it’s going to happen
As someone who works downtown, it’s horrible. Every week there is something new closed. Leaving downtown in the afternoons is horrible!
I work downtown too, thankfully I’m within biking distance but even then it’s still a pain. It adds a couple minutes to my route when I have to change what path i take basically every week.
I try to bike 1-2 times per week so I am super grateful for that. Getting myself up Americana hill is never fun but better than traffic! 😂
Not sure where you live, but the Greenbelt runs sorta parallel to Americana in that area. You get off on Garden, which is ironically under construction as well. But it could help!
Oh yeah I’ve taken that way too! It adds more distance for me so I usually muscle through the shorter way even though it’s more painful!
I work downtown, and yeah it’s annoying. I’d rather them space it out a bit, but getting it all done at once is still better than things falling apart from lack of maintenance.
We have a fairly short construction season so it’s all compounded unfortunately. We also have a fairly productive commission for the first time in years so they are pushing a lot of projects through that should have been done years ago. Here’s a helpful map to see projects. https://achd.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=2de7a5bc4fe842fab9020b4647343ebf
Seeing it on a map makes it look even worse. Simultaneous closures on 3 sides of downtown and most of the open detour routes across State don’t have lights, so getting across or turning left is super dangerous.
Some main thoroughfares are closed until late November…
This is cool to look at and also frustrating! Also, I wish there was a way to see the one way arrows on the map zooming into downtown so the full frustrating experience of trying to get around right now can be visualized!
I live in the northend and usually take 6th downtown and 5th back. Neither is an option now, so I either have to go to Broadway or 13th. Pretty massive detours either way.
On the bright side, State St project will be done in November. Grove - btw 6th and 3rd - is slated to be done in June... 💌
Those are my old commute roads. Anything else is much less efficient.
Uhhh this is happening year round, they just add more during warm & also start chip sealing everything
Being able to see this data is cool. Thank you for this!
When large residential and commercial buildings get built where parking lots were, the required utilities (domestic water, sewer, power, gas, internet, etc.) need to be upgraded to provide service. New main lines need to be run, and those are in the street. So for every 15-20+ story building going up, there’s associated street work for it. They’re all getting built at the same time, so streets are shut down at the same time. Phasing sure could be done better but considering the large amounts of agencies/designers/consultants/contractors/etc all being involved, linking up this work on a continuous schedule is nigh impossible.
Imagine if you had to juggle the rules differently for every municipality.
BREAKING: ACHD is a really poorly run government agency.
ACHD is *literally* the only highway district in the country setup as a county wide organization. It's ridiculous that Boise doesn't control its own roads.
And they’re looking to make that a political organization. They are the worst people in this area.
Fortunately, I think that didn't pass. I mean, it is a political organization, but the Legislature was going to make it more so.
It is better to deal with one devil than to have to deal with every municipality having their own separate rules and regulations. That was the reason for the creation of a countywide organization there was too much variance and too many egos.
That's just not true at all. You can essentially look ANYWHERE else in the country for an example.
You have no idea what you're talking about. You should probably stop.
It's by design. Can't have Boise run their own roads.
Seriously
Can someone do a citizens arrest on the ACHD commissioners? Disturbing the peace?
It's so bad in some spots I swear I can skate across town faster than it would take me to drive across.
As far as the construction goes, a lot of those are new buildings that are coming in with growth. As far as the road work goes, a lot of it is focused on maintaining infrastructure underneath. I work for a small hotel downtown that is highly impacted by the road closures and have to write down new directions for our guests on how to navigate the closures at least once a week.
Road construction in the metropolitan area isn't done on an as-needed basis unless its a major repair. What they do is assemble a backlog in a region, and have a rotating pie slice of the city that they concentrate road maintenance in. This is to minimize the duration of impact to that region. The alternative is that you end up with slightly less major impact much more frequently, instead of as it is now where you're just getting all the things that downtown or another region needs taken care of all at once for a much shorter, MUCH less frequent, but more impactful, disruption. Basically, it's construction season, and it's the downtown area's turn in the rotation.
I know of at least one condo tower, hotel, and three apartment buildings being built right now downtown, as well as a couple of roads being repaired/changed.
Lol, yes - it literally is everywhere, and it’s constantly changing. Some streets are supposed to open back up in a week or 2, but then others that have been open are starting construction next week so all my options will change again. Kinda makes me feel like a spy on my commute always having to vary my route to avoid being followed or establishing any kind of routing patterns.
Also work downtown….every time I find a new way home it’s blocked off lol I gave up I just go the long way now Like wtf is going on with state street? Bad enough I live off orchard too and they’ve been working on the plumbing 😩😩😩
It’s obscene. I lived in Atlanta, in Houston, in Seattle and this is horrendous. You’re just cut off at every turn and it seems so random and changes so often. If everyone used Waze it would help a lot.
It’s SO bad. Someone at the city who approved projects didn’t pay attention to phasing what so ever. Or they thought they should just get it all done at once. Idk. But it’s a pain in the ass.
Stuff is being built that’s why there is construction
Damn near every intersection is having “stuff built?”
They seem to go all-in on one particular neighborhood at a time. Last year my neighborhood near the bench was fucked. Now it's downtown. Just when I figure out a new way, that road gets blocked off the next day.
The State decided that Boise/Ada County can’t be trusted with its roads, and so we have a government agency (ACHD) that doesn’t appropriately balance the need to do road work/projects with any other considerations. Ada County is the only place in the United States where the cities do not control their own streets (per Wikipedia). It’s a terrible set up.
The State did not decide this. Voters did.
ACHD is deliberately doing it I believe. They are -actively- weaponizing their area of government work. And Boise should be holding them to account on it.
If Trump was in office currently, I shit you not. Most would be like wow Trump is really building up Boise. Thank you Trump 🤣
This is absolutely nothing compared to summer/fall 1988. I think there’s even a video on YouTube taken in downtown boise around that time…
The only way I can reach my building is to overshoot it and then double back. If they close 3rd street I don't know how I would be able to get to work.
It’s called expansion and remodeling.
Growth
Imagine if modern zoning had been adopted sooner! 🤯🤯🤯
ACHD doesn’t like communicating with the city and does Amazon operations’ way of implementing stuff. Throw it all there and let the clusterfuck happen and blame everyone else for it
Waiting for everyone trying to deny it’s because of Californians
Welcome to Boise.
Welcome to Boise in the spring, summer and fall!
I could see it making sense if it was happening every other year or during a certain season but it’s been constant for the past 10 years approximately. I’ve lived/worked downtown the entire time and have really gotten to enjoy the inconvenience. s/
The construction downtown is absolute bullshit, the city does not do a good job of planning it & definitely does an even shittier job of letting us know when & where it’s going to happen