Drive or walk on super-busy Eagle Road? Be aware of these upcoming closures
Nighttime and overnight lane closures will affect a section of Eagle Road as the Idaho Transportation Department works to establish variable speed limits on the busy, high-crash corridor.
The closures were set to take place in far-west Boise and Meridian between Chinden Boulevard and Ustick Road from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. starting Monday, Dec. 1, and were to last 10 days, according to a news release from ITD. Crews will use the time for underground utility work so the new speed-limit signs can be installed, the release said.
ITD will maintain access to the businesses along Eagle Road, also known as Idaho 55, during the closures, and only one lane will close at a time, spokesperson Jill Youmans told the Idaho Statesman.
According to Youmans, individual lanes could close for short periods — such as 15 minutes — while crews bore into the street to locate utilities, and then move to another spot. For each bout of work, one lane would close while other lanes would be passable, Youmans said by phone.
The work will allow crews to install underground wires that would power the new speed-limit signs, she said.
Closures were also expected to affect pedestrians during the day, according to the release. Pedestrians will have to find alternate routes along Eagle, Chinden and McMillan Road “for daytime sidewalk and shoulder closures,” the release said.
This round of closures is expected to be wrapped up by Dec. 10.
Variable-speed limit signs will soon line Eagle Road
The utility work comes as ITD hurries to wrap up installation of the variable-speed limit signs initially expected to be up and running last spring.
The signs, which will instruct drivers to slow to 45 mph during peak congestion and then revert to the current 55-mph limit other times, are now expected to be operational “within the next few months,” according to ITD’s release Wednesday.
The signs will line Eagle Road roughly every mile between Franklin Road — which is just north of Interstate 84 — and Chinden Boulevard, according to an ITD webpage on the safety project. ITD also plans to install additional “driver feedback” signs and has already closed two high-risk left turns on the highway.
The road, Idaho’s busiest non-interstate highway, sees more than 60,000 vehicles a day, according to ITD — more than twice its volume in 2000, the Statesman previously reported. That growth has been accompanied by increased congestion and safety concerns.
According to ITD crash data, there have been 276 crashes on Eagle Road this year.
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
