🏛️ Issues and Advocacy Training
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Government and civic life

🛣️ Idaho Roads and Highways: Who Builds Them, Who Pays and How to Have a Say

How Idaho roads really get built, paid for and fixed: who owns which road, where fuel tax, registration, sales tax and property tax money goes, the constitutional limits and the 2025 budget fight, TECM and GARVEE bonds, the 2026 unfunded list in ITD's seven-year plan, highway districts and their budgets, federal formulas and the reauthorization fight, impact fees, and step-by-step ways to get a road fixed, change a project or report on one.

10 lessons · about 5.5 hours ·

Start lesson 1

  1. 1Who Owns Your Road? ITD, Counties, Cities and Idaho's Highway DistrictsIdaho's public roads belong to the state, 33 county road departments, 63 highway districts and 189 cities, with federal, tribal and private roads alongside. This lesson explains each owner's legal powers, Idaho's highway districts and the countywide ACHD, and how to find out who maintains any road or validate a disputed public road under Idaho Code 40-203A.30 min
  2. 2Where Road Money Comes From: Fuel Tax, Fees, Sales Tax and Property TaxIdaho roads are paid for by a stack of revenues: a 32-cent fuel tax, registration and EV fees split 60/40 between ITD and local governments, fixed sales tax transfers, federal aid, local property taxes, voter-approved local registration fees and impact fees. This lesson traces a gallon of gas from pump to pavement and shows how to follow the money for your own city, county or highway district.32 min
  3. 3The Constitution's Highway Fund Wall and the 2025 Budget FightArticle VII, section 17 of the Idaho Constitution reserves fuel taxes and registration fees for highways, and courts have enforced it strictly, but it does not protect sales tax or General Fund money. This lesson covers the key cases, the Idaho State Police phase-out, the April 2025 Senate vote that killed the ITD budget over an Article III, section 19 concern, what happened in 2026, and how to test any constitutional claim about road money.30 min
  4. 4TECM, GARVEE Bonds and the Strategic Initiatives FundHow Idaho borrows for highways through GARVEE and TECM bonds, how the TECM sales tax stream in Idaho Code 63-3638(16) grew from 1 percent in 2017 to $185 million a year from fiscal 2028, and how the Strategic Initiatives Fund went from a $275 million General Fund transfer in fiscal 2026 to zero in fiscal 2027. Includes bond cost math, the 2023 HB 292 bond scare, who decides what, and how to test claims about road money being cut.40 min
  5. 5Reading ITD's Seven-Year Plan (ITIP) and the 2026 Unfunded ListA reading guide to the Idaho Transportation Investment Program: the annual June-July-September cycle, how it feeds the federal STIP, how projects are selected by program, and how to read a project line by key number, program, fund code, phase and year. Uses the fiscal 2027 to 2033 program, approved September 17, 2026, after more than $1 billion of projects moved to the unfunded Early Development category.35 min
  6. 6Highway Districts Up Close: Elections, Levies, Budgets and Capital PlansHow Idaho's highway districts work under Title 40, chapters 13 and 14: commissioner elections (including the 2026 law making ACHD races partisan and countywide from 2028), levy limits in 40-801, the 3 percent and forgone rules in 63-802, and the budget hearing. Uses ACHD's $261 million fiscal 2027 budget and five-year plan, a rural Payette County district's budget, the 2025 East Side Highway District late-charges case, and consolidation and dissolution law.40 min
  7. 7Federal Money: FHWA Formulas, the STIP, MPOs and the Reauthorization FightHow federal highway dollars reach Idaho: the FHWA formula, Idaho's 92.66 percent federal share, the STIP and the six metropolitan planning organizations, LHTAC's local programs and the Federal Lands Access Program. Covers the September 2026 stopgap extension, the county bridge funding cliff and the pending BUILD America 250 Act, as of October 2026.32 min
  8. 8Growth Pays for Growth? Impact Fees, Development Agreements and Who Pays for New RoadsHow Idaho's Development Impact Fee Act (Idaho Code Title 67, Chapter 82) works, who can charge road impact fees, and how ACHD set its 2026 fees. Covers development agreements, the Nollan, Dolan, Koontz and Sheetz takings cases, Idaho cases on illegal fees, and why fees cover less of growth's road costs than many assume, as of October 2026.32 min
  9. 9How To: Get a Road Fixed, a Signal Studied or a Project ChangedA practical playbook for Idaho residents: find the road's owner, report problems, request traffic and speed studies, use ITD crash data, comment on the seven-year plan and MPO plans, testify at budget hearings, file records requests and work with legislators. Uses real 2024 to 2026 examples from US-95 near Sagle and Dufort Road, as of October 2026.28 min
  10. 10How To: Report on a Road Project, Follow the Money and Check the NumbersA reporter's and researcher's guide to an Idaho road project's paper trail: key numbers, environmental documents, bid tabulations, contracts, change orders, inspection records, ITD's annual report, Transparent Idaho and Legislative Services Office audits. Ends with Roads by the Numbers, charts summarizing road ownership, revenue, bridge condition and the 2026 unfunded list, as of October 2026.30 min