12-15 IAN Roads Control Commerce

 A clogged artery can lead to serious problems, particularly if that artery is a road in Idaho. I’m David Sparks and we’ll hear what Governor Otter thinks about this next.

Governor Otter has always had a big place in his heart for transportation because it leads to growing the economy of Idaho and keeping our State in the mix of being attractive to business. A big part of transportation is our road infrastructure and clogged roads are to commerce what clogged arteries are to our bodies. Here’s Governor Otter spokesperson John Hanian’s response when I asked him if roadwork wasn’t extremely important to the Governor’s agenda. “It’s how we safeguard our economy and also grow it. You’ve got goods and services that are sitting there in traffic, business is gonna follow the path of least resistance outta here because of delays, or routes that aren’t safe, that’s a big issue that any business looks at in terms of deciding to locate a business or relocate a business or keep a business for that matter in a state. If you’re dependant on a miles to market, with the commodities you deal with, that’s a huge consideration.” Of course when Mr. Hanian referred to “with the commodities you deal with” he was referring to agriculture, as in trucks moving livestock and produce to market, farm equipment using roads, etc.