Hundreds crash, some die on Eagle Road in Meridian. A victim’s family demands change
Kess Boesch was 21 years old. She was preparing to decorate the apartment she and her boyfriend, Jordan Plaster, had just moved into in Boise. The couple headed to Hobby Lobby for Christmas decorations, with Plaster driving.
Just before 4 p.m. on Nov. 13, Plaster drove north on Eagle Road. He made a left turn to enter a side street to approach the store. A southbound pickup truck hit them.
Boesch died of blunt force trauma at the scene, the Idaho Statesman previously reported. Plaster had life-threatening injuries. He recovered but with brain trauma.
Boesch’s parents, Laurie and Jerry Boesch, of Boise, along with Plaster’s family, grieved. Then they decided to act. They want to ensure another family doesn’t have to suffer the loss of someone in an accident on Eagle Road.
Laurie Boesch and a group of concerned Treasure Valley residents are pushing for the Idaho Transportation Department to reduce the speed limit on Eagle Road and ban unprotected left turns. The speed limit through Meridian from Interstate 84 to Chinden Boulevard is 55 miles per hour.
“It’s my understanding that ITD is responsible for what speed limit highways have and that they knew that this was a problem,” Boesch said in an interview. “And they did nothing about it. Had they changed the speed limit, my daughter could have walked away from the accident. If the left-hand turn was barricaded, or prohibited, there would be no accident.”
Nearly 500 crashes on Eagle Road stretch in 2 years
Eagle Road is a section of Idaho 55. Data from the Idaho Transportation Department obtained by the Statesman showed 258 vehicle crashes on Eagle Road from I-84 to Chinden Boulevard in 2020, and 282 crashes on the same stretch in 2021.
There were 175 injuries and one fatality in the crashes in 2020, 211 injuries and one fatality in 2021, and 54 injuries with no fatalities so far in 2022, according to ITD data.
Boesch and the group of about 12 area residents, including Plaster’s mother and father, had a series of meetings with the city of Meridian, ITD and Meridian police, Boesch said. At one meeting, Boesch said, the Meridian police chief said there is an accident nearly every day on Eagle Road.
The group, feeling stuck in meeting after meeting with no action from the transportation department or the city, spoke in front of the Meridian City Council on June 28.
“Please make this change before another Idaho family has to live through this experience,” said Kurtis Plaster, Jordan Plaster’s father.
According to Boesch and Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea, Eagle Road through Meridian is the only stretch of state highway that does not slow down through a major city in Idaho.
Jillian Garrigues, spokesperson for ITD, said Idaho has some stretches of highway with 50- to 55-mph speed limits through cities, including Idaho 44 (State Street) from Idaho 16 through Eagle, and U.S. 20/26 from I-84 east from Caldwell to the start of Garden City.
Plaster asked the city to put up a barrier at Baldcypress Street and Eagle Road to prohibit left turns to the side street.
There are signs at Baldcypress and Eagle reminding drivers to yield to through traffic, Garrigues said. She said nothing has been done about reducing the speed limit, but the department is working with the city on general Eagle Road improvements.
“We are wanting to make it a safe environment for users and balance the safety and mobility of the road with businesses and access on the road,” Garrigues said by phone.
Garrigues said speed limits are set according to federal guidelines. The guidelines are set based on traffic flow, pavement type and other conditions, she said.
Mayor calls for speed reduction
In his State of the City Address on June 2, Meridian Mayor Robert Simison called Eagle Road a “race track.” He criticized its speed limit, noting that the highway slows down through Nampa and Eagle.
“Why must this road be driven at 55 through Meridian?” Simison said.
At the end of the June 28 City Council meeting, council members Liz Strader and Luke Cavener said they were saddened by the testimony from Plaster’s and Boesch’s families. They asked Simison to keep the council updated on progress in city meetings with ITD and the families.
But Boesch’s patience has worn thin.
“After the meeting, we were told that there would be another meeting with ITD,” Boesch said. “But again, my thought was, ‘It’s just another meeting.’ More talk of what they already know and on what they need to do.”
The truck that hit their daughter and Plaster was driving 53 miles per hour, according to police.
Plaster, 22, was driving his small Mitsubishi Mirage when it was struck by the Ford F-250. According to police, one lane of the two lanes of southbound traffic on Eagle was stopped, and Plaster turned. He did not see the truck coming in the second lane.
The Meridian Police Department determined that Plaster was at fault. The Statesman previously reported that the truck’s passengers were not injured.
“(The driver) was within the speed limit,” Laurie Boesch said. “But that was the problem.”
