Amazon Developer to Pay for Nampa Road Upgrades

Did you hear that Amazon is building a fulfillment center in Nampa? Yeah, well, it's happening. According to the Idaho Statesman, the fulfillment center is expected to offer over 3,000 jobs in its 2.6 million square feet center. To put that into perspective that about the size of 15 Walmart Supercenters. WHOA! The project is proposed to cost roughly $130 million.

However, with such a big project coming to the town of Nampa, there will be some impacts. The Statesman reports that city officials estimate that the center -which they're calling 'Project Bronco- will "generate about 7,000 trips per day during the peak delivery season, including an estimated 358 truck trips, according to a traffic impact study." That means way more traffic in the area of Star Rd. and Franklin, the proposed area of construction.

So, because of the impact on traffic, the City of Nampa negotiated with the developer of the project, Panattoni Development Co. Inc., in order to cover the costs to upgrade roads to mitigate the impact. The result? According to the Statesman, the developer (who has worked with Amazon on other projects), and the City have agreed to pay a whopping $14 million!

Where will the money go? Of the $7 million that the developer is contributing, $3.8 million will be allocated to upgrades to the "Franklin and Robinson Road frontgates and $2.7 million will go to create a traffic signal at the intersection of Franklin and Star." The rest of the funds will go toward intersections along Franklin and Idaho Center Boulevard.

According to the Statesman, the rest of the funds including $5.5 million from the City, and $1.5 million from contingency funds, would go toward creating a "westbound offramp for Highway 16." So aside from all the job creation, this new project will be huge for the City of Nampa.

There's no word on when the fulfillment center is expected to be completed.