New Highway 30 Underpasses Nearing Fall Completion
Paris, ID · September 21, 2026
A sharp 39-degree chill and low cloud cover signal autumn’s unmistakable arrival across the valley today. Keep an eye out for roving mule deer and school bus routes as a busy Monday gets moving.
The Lead
Drivers traveling south of Montpelier along U.S. 30 are watching decades of roadway safety advocacy turn into concrete and steel. Crews are placing the finishing touches on three dedicated wildlife underpasses along the five-mile Rocky Point corridor, historically the valley’s most notorious bottleneck for animal collisions. Bear Lake County commissioners and the Idaho Transportation Department partnered with regional conservation organizations to fund the project, designed to protect both commuters and migrating mule deer that funnel through the narrow canyon gap every winter.
Contractors have wrapped up major excavation work and are now installing tall roadside exclusion fencing engineered to direct herds safely beneath the highway lanes. Flaggers will continue guiding intermittent single-lane traffic through the construction zone until asphalt resurfacing wraps up before winter weather arrives.
Local Pulse
- Bear Lake High Kicks Off Homecoming Week Schools Students and families across the valley begin spirit competitions today ahead of Friday’s rivalry game against Rich.
Today's Outlook
- High 68°F · Low 39°F — Overcast
- Grab a warm coat for the thirty-nine-degree morning before overcast skies reach sixty-eight.
What's On Around Town
Today
- Come From Away LionHeart Hall (480 N 100 E), Logan, 7:00 PM · Paid Uplifting true story of Newfoundland hospitality in the wake of 9/11.
Tomorrow
- Montpelier Farmers Market Heritage Park (821 Washington St), Montpelier, 4:00–7:00 PM · Free
- High School Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet Bear Lake High School (330 Boise St), Montpelier, 6:00–7:00 PM
Wednesday
- District Soils Evaluation Bear Lake High School (330 Boise St), Montpelier, 8:30–9:30 AM
Spotlight & Story
- Pendrey Drug Store Building
- Arthur Pendrey opened this Main and Center corner storefront in 1905, dispensing medicines, sundries, and fountain sodas to generations of farm families. Today, the brick structure's original wide display windows and decorative parapet look out quietly on Highway 89 traffic.
Paris Daily Digest — compiled from local sources as of 6 AM. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.
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