If you look at the Boise Valley from a geological standpoint, you can see why the majority of our major roadways are built on an east to west layout. The Boise River and the two benches serve as obstacles to building roads. With the addition of the interstate in the late 1950’s another obstacle was added.
As our county continues to grow, it is becoming more necessary to provide north/south roadways to more efficiently move traffic. In 1993, the Bench Valley Transportation Study was commissioned to study the potential for future north/south roadways.
For more than three years, the Bench Valley Citizen’s Advisory Committee met monthly and provided input to the outcome of the study. The end results of the study completed in 1995 detailed the building of Curtis, Five Mile and Maple Grove roads as well as the reconstruction of the Glenwood/Cole couplet.
The conclusion of the political process on the Bench Valley extensions was essentially “build them all, build them small, and build them friendly.” While ACHD is committed to building safe and efficient roads, the wisdom of building them small has come into question. The citizen response to the Curtis Road Extension was clearly a mandate to build roads large enough to handle current and future traffic.