Last weekend we were on our way home from Island Park Scout Camp and hit the construction zone on Highway 20 at the Snake River bridge. Because most East Idaho drivers don’t know how to zipper merge as the construction forced traffic down to one lane each way, traffic was backed up to the Thornton interchange, and moving slow.
We thought we’d get off at the interchange and head west, to try to find an alternate river crossing.
That was a rookie mistake because in that area, there is no other way to cross the river.
In fact, between Interstate 15 and Heise, there are only five Snake River crossings, and you can’t really count the Heise crossing as the only way to get to it from the north and west is to follow a really long dirt road.
When traffic bottlenecks at the Lorenzo Bridge on Highway 20, there just aren’t any good alternatives.
Alternatives, yes. But good ones? No.
Take, for example, the 3600 East crossing. To go from Rexburg to Idaho Falls, here’s the route:
Almost 36 miles, or 48 minutes of travel. I know, not the end of the world.
But note if you decide you want to use this route, you have to hit State Highway 33 in Rexburg. If you don’t you’re trapped in this nifty little wedge of land where the best crossing is Highway 20, because to go west or south after Highway 33 means you hit the obstacles of the Henry’s Fork and the South Fork of the Snake River, without any crossings to be found.
If there were no blockages on Highway 20, the route is a lot faster:
Nine miles shorter. And about thirteen minutes faster.
Here’s the only other route you can take:
A bit shorter than the first route at almost 34 miles, but longer in time – 49 minutes.
We’ve seen this route closed before, as flooding knocked out the Twin Bridges over the river on this route, just as the Highway 20 bridge construction is messing with it now.
For the sake of argument, let’s see what it would take for us to go all the way to the Interstate (not a happy prospect, towing our camper which starts to wobble at 60 mph):
Not very appealing, and even at interstate speeds, slow. Even slower for us camper-tuggers.
And here’s the way via Heise:
That time, though. More than an hour. Nobody wants that, with the route via Ririe. That way’s only 8 miles shorter, but 13 minutes shorter.
I know this is serious White Man Problem territory. But having an additional Snake River crossing that somewhat parallels Highway 20 seems to make a lot of sense, traffic flow-wise.
Here are two possible spots for a new crossing:
McGarry Ranches.
This crossing would require a new road connecting 5000 South in Madison County to 4000 East in Jefferson County. This is where we ended up trying to find a Snake River crossing last weekend, until we dead-ended at the river. This crossing would provide another link between Rigby and the farms to the north.
Texas Slough.
This crossing would require a new road connecting the Archer Highway in Madison County to 4400 East in Jefferson County, providing a straight shot from Rexburg to the Idaho Falls area, rather than the longer route through Ririe.
This would be a more complicated route, because to make that straight shot, you’d also need a bridge to cross the Dry Bed Canal.
The route would also provide a more direct connection between southeastern Madison County and State Highway 48.
And while we’re dreaming, here’s a spot for a crossing of the Henry’s Fork, in the Menan Buttes area:
This route would connect West 4000 South to East Butte Road with a river crossing, giving an alternative east-west route that would take advantage of the 3600 East crossing. And it looks like it bight be a straighter shot to connect with 3800 South rather than 4000 South.
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