Boundary County Road & Bridge

Frequently asked questions

Q: Why does Road & Bridge work four 10 hour days during the summer months?

A: This practice minimizes warm-up time, equipment wear from start-ups and shutdowns, and reduces travel to job-site time. It also lends more continuity to ongoing projects and facilitates day planning better than the standard eight-hour day. It is necessary to revert to the eight hour day during the winter months to provide daily plowing and sanding services on school bus routes and other main roads.

Q: Why don't we see the grader for long periods when it's dry in the summer?

A: Some things are better left alone, among them, a very dry road surface. Grading when roads are extremely dry may smooth the washboards temporarily, but without being able to compact the road surface after grading, the washboards will return quickly, along with an increase in annoying dust.

Q: What is being done to control dust on county roads?

A: Boundary County Road & Bridge continues to work on this, but must refer back to the many miles of graveled roads remaining in our county and the cost it would take to surface them. Work continues to hard-surface additional roads, and hopefully progress will continue with the addition of a few miles each year being paved. Before paving can begin, however, the drainage and road base must meet some critical criteria or the asphalt surface will quickly fail. Chemicals to control dust, such as magnesium chloride, are available, but monies for chemical dust abatement are not available in the road and bridge budget. Application has been made for these chemicals through the Idaho Congestion and Air Quality program, but as yet no monies have been released. For those electing to have a vendor apply dust abatement chemicals for you, please contact Boundary County Road & Bridge beforehand to ensure you know the county's policy regarding the use of dust abatement chemicals and to allow crews to prepare the surface of the road prior to application.

Q: What is the width of the county road right of way through or along my property?

A: The average throughout the county is 50 feet, or 25 feet on either side of the centerline of the roadway. Some deeded rights of way are much wider, some are less. In any case, please call before beginning any improvements along a county road. If you are planning on making or upgrading an approach to a county road, a permit is required before work begins. Boundary County Road and Bridge is finding it increasingly important to keep ditches clean and to remove small trees and brush before they become large stumps that hinder our maintenance efforts. For this reason, the County must maintain right of way beyond the apparent ditch lines. In all cases, every effort is made to contact property owners prior to the removal of large trees and before any work is done that would significantly impact that property.