Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation And Land Use topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rio Vista residents urge Bannock County to reroute 50-ton haul trucks from new gravel pit
Summary
Three Rio Vista-area residents told the Bannock County Board of Commissioners they are concerned about safety, noise and residential impacts from heavy-haul trucks serving a gravel pit owned by Pocatello Redding Mix and proposed an alternate route that would require a bridge upgrade.
Several residents near Siphon Road and Rio Vista urged the Bannock County Board of Commissioners to address safety and traffic concerns from heavy-haul trucks using local residential streets to serve a gravel pit.
Jerry Hunt, who identified himself as a Rio Vista resident, told the commissioners the neighborhood is facing “upcoming traffic, with, heavy haul trucks, 50 ton trucks, going through this neighborhood” as Pocatello Redding Mix develops a gravel pit on property south of Siphon Road. Jay Christensen summarized the area’s land-use history, saying the land had been zoned multiple-use in the 1990s and has more recently shifted toward residential suburban and rural uses on the county’s future land-use map. Jim Severson described his property as adjacent to Hunt’s.
Residents asked the commissioners to consider an alternate haul route that would avoid most residential streets and noted that the alternate route would be nearly half a mile shorter for trucks traveling to the interstate but would require upgrading an existing bridge across the Portneuf River. Christensen said the bridge upgrade is the primary obstacle to using that alternate route. Hunt played a short video the residents had recorded that he said showed two weeks in December when trucks were hauling nonstop and struggling to turn from Siphon Road onto Rio Vista, giving residents “a very first time taste of what will happen when there's a full scale gravel pit and a full operation with trucks going all the time.”
Residents framed their concerns around safety, residential quality of life, and the mismatch between the county’s future land-use map and an active heavy industrial hauling route. They asked the board to evaluate routing options and bridge upgrades to limit heavy truck traffic through populated streets. County staff did not provide a timeline for review nor did the commissioners record any formal direction, referral, or vote on the matter during the transcripted portion of the meeting.
