IT WON'T DO ANY GOOD.

Boise commuters are stuck in traffic.  They're still going to be stuck in traffic.  "[Highway department] officials say drivers could see faster commute times and fewer traffic jams when the project is finished."

Sorry, no.

Read the article, and you'll see they know the answer is no.

In 2001, nearly 39,000 cars passed through I-84 at Middleton Road each day. At that time, traffic engineers estimated that in 2020, that stretch would serve 75,000.

It didn’t take that long. By 2018, that stretch saw 80,000 cars passing through it each day, according to COMPASS, the regional planning agency. At the Treasure Valley’s current rate of growth, COMPASS estimates that the same intersection will see 113,000 cars passing through every day by 2025.

Without improvements, travel times will double, COMPASS predicts.

With the improvements, travel times will double anyway.

Melder, of ITD, said adding the new lanes might help for now, but the department can’t always rely on widening the interstate to alleviate traffic.

“We are getting to a point in time on I-84 where just adding lanes is not going to be an option much longer,” he said.

The department is looking into other solutions to congestion, such as adding ramp meters — traffic signals that limits the number of cars entering the freeway.

Highway widening alone rarely relieves traffic — that’s conventional wisdom among transportation planners. In fact, they often make traffic worse, because of a concept called “induced demand:” New roads attract new drivers, both in the form of residents and businesses attracted to the increased capacity. In the end, traffic congestion typically stays about the same.

They're able to widen the interstate now because Uncle Sugar came through with some money. Uncle Sugar isn't always so generous.

Plans for a regional transit rail have circulated in COMPASS but have gone nowhere. COMPASS estimates that the capital costs for a commuter rail and bus system to feed it between Caldwell and Boise would cost $693 million, not including the right of way and operating costs. But with no dedicated funding source for rail, it’s nearly impossible to build.

Although COMPASS is still planning for some kind of commuter line, for now the interstate is where most commuters end up.

“Where we’re at, we’re trying to keep up with growth,” Melder said. Part of that means increasing the capacity along other roads within the region. That’s why ITD is concurrently working to widen Highway 20/26 and Highway 44, he added.

It's understood that rail transportation systems recover some of their costs through the farebox.  Perhaps one of these days it will dawn on the highway departments to run their roads like the businesses they are.  We're still a long way from that: nowhere in the article does anyone raise the possibility of toll roads.  Meanwhile, concurrent widening on connecting and paralleling roads simply means more construction delays, with no relief later.