BOISE, Idaho — It's been more than a year since the completion of a "ThrU-Turn" at the intersection of State Street and Veterans Memorial Parkway.
A lot of work has been done on the intersection, including widening the intersection and eliminating left-hand turns from State Street.
The goal of the project was to improve traffic flow, particularly during rush hour.
The ThrU-Turn was completed in November 2018 so KTVB followed up with the Ada County Highway District to find out if the project has been successful.
Natalie Shaver, spokesperson for ACHD, said before the project changes, drivers were waiting up to three minutes at that intersection.
According to Shaver, that's because drivers trying to continue through on State kept getting backed up by drivers trying to make a left-hand turn.
Prior to the project drivers were only getting through a green light at the intersection about 40% of the time. Since the completion of the ThrU-Turn, that has jumped up to 50%.
"It might not sound like a lot but when you think about how many cars are traveling down State Street every day, it does have a pretty big impact of how many people are going through and speeding up the travel times on State Street," Shaver said.
Shaver also added that so far, ACHD has gotten a lot of positive feedback from the community about the changes.
“There are still going to be delays in the intersection," she said. "There’s only so much that can be done. But the whole point was to make it more efficient – that was the whole goal. And we think it has.”
Currently, ACHD is also adding a ThrU-Turn at Cole and Victory.