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[Kniwt]

The Times-News of Twin Falls reports:
https://magicvalley.com/news/local/is-a-third-rim-to-rim-bridge-on-the-horizon-idaho-transportation-department-narrows-river/article_686d9a8f-a7ca-5e74-816c-49cd606ae5ea.html

At the project rate of growth for the greater Twin Falls area, another bridge over the Snake River is inevitable, county commissioners from both Jerome and Twin Falls counties say.

It’s not a matter of if, but when, they say. Only two bridges span the river within a 30-minute drive of Twin Falls: the I.B. Perrine Bridge north of town and the Hansen Bridge, a dozen miles upstream.

... The Idaho Transportation Department recently completed an origin-destination study to determine where the heaviest traffic in the area is generated and where it’s headed. The study identified possible options to reroute traffic around Twin Falls — including three possible new river crossings — but threw out the option of widening or rebuilding the 44-year-old Perrine Bridge, which was built to last another 30 to 55 years.

The process to build a bridge of such magnitude over the iconic Snake River Canyon will take some 20 years, ITD District Manager Jesse Barrus told the Times-News.

[Bruce]

Widening the existing SH-50 crossing seems like the most sensible option.

[doorknob60]

Widening the existing SH-50 crossing seems like the most sensible option.

I'm not sure how much that would actually help, though. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the 2 lane bridge out there is inadequate for the traffic levels there. A large part of the US-93 traffic is local traffic (for commute, shopping, etc.) between Twin Falls and Jerome. As well as other towns in the region like Wendell and Shoshone. In addition, Boise to Twin Falls traffic is not insignificant, especially factoring in people from Boise driving through Twin Falls to get to Nevada on US-93. All these use cases would be ideal for a western bridge, especially for Boise to Nevada traffic bypassing the city (a win-win, less traffic in the city, faster travel for people bypassing). Widening ID-50 would do nothing for the Jerome to Twin Falls traffic which is the biggest contributor. I'd imagine that Twin Falls to Burley (and beyond) traffic is split between US-93 and ID-50 and is a smaller percentage of the overall traffic.

That said, it would be the cheapest option. But seems like widening it would be kind of a waste of money.

Also, thanks for posting this here. I saw an article I think from KTVB on Facebook, and it was almost completely devoid of any useful details.

[roadfro]

I'll preface by saying I'm not familiar with this area at all.

I'd be interested to see what the origin-destination study found as the traffic generators and patterns. If the vast majority of traffic in the region is through on US 93 and/or commute between Twin Falls & Jerome, it seems like Options 1, 2, or 3 would be best. Option 3 seems like the best as far as connecting the two cities and a potential reroute of mainline US 93 (while keeping current US 93 as a potential business route option). Options 1 & 2 seem best solely to serve as reroutes for US 93 traffic, but puts that traffic going through Jerome which may not be desirable.

[The Ghostbuster]

Once they choose an alternative, how long before it might be constructed? It would likely be years down the road.