Ever Onward Podcast

Keep Idaho Moving: Simplot CEO Garrett Lofto on Idaho Traffic + Treasure Valley Growth | Ever Onward Ep. 114

• Ahlquist. • Season 1 • Episode 114

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Growth in the Treasure Valley isn’t knocking at the door anymore—it’s in the living room. We sit down with Simplot CEO Garrett Lofto to connect two stories that matter here: how a people-first, innovation-driven company feeds the world, and how a business-led coalition can help our region move smarter and faster. From farm roots to the C‑suite, Garrett shares the leadership principles that powered his journey—listening, curiosity, and investing in strong foundations—and applies them to a challenge affecting every family and employer in the valley: congestion that steals time.

We lay out the stakes plainly. I‑84 has finite capacity left, and each incident ripples through commerce and daily life. If we keep doing more of the same, gridlock spreads and talent looks elsewhere. So we map out options instead of silver bullets: a southern alternative route to pull freight and through-traffic around the core, Highway 16 as a stronger north–south connector, and a serious look at rail along existing corridors from the Boise Depot through Meridian to Nampa and Caldwell. Rail is a long game, but flat terrain and preserved right-of-way make phased planning plausible—especially if we learn from places like Salt Lake City, where sustained business advocacy and smart funding built durable ridership.

Keep Idaho Moving, now housed at the Boise Metro Chamber under CEO Bobbi-Jo Meuleman, gives this effort a home and momentum. Our goal isn’t to dictate projects; it’s to collect data, align stakeholders, help agencies win studies and funding, and keep the public focused on outcomes that matter: safety, reliability, and time with family. We also preview conversations with ITD District 3, ACHD, and COMPASS to dig into constraints, forecasts, and what near-term wins look like. The message throughout is practical and urgent—right-of-way only gets more expensive, and every month we wait narrows future choices. If we act early and together, we can protect what we love about this place while making room for who’s coming next.

If this resonates, follow the series, share it with a neighbor, and leave a review so more locals can join the conversation. Your insight can shape the routes we take—literally.

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Welcome And Theme: Transportation

SPEAKER_00

Today on the Ever Onward Podcast, we have Garrett Lofto. He will be my co-host for the month of March. We are very excited to be talking about all things transportation in the Treasure Valley. As we know, there is tremendous growth that's happening here in our region with estimates that another 500,000 people will be coming to the valley in the next uh 20 years. Um, with those growth projections, there's a tremendous amount of pressure on the current system. Uh Garrett is the uh CEO and president of Simplot. Um, he is a phenomenal guy. He's been the CEO for eight years. Um, it's a global food and agriculture company with 18,000 employees. Uh Garrett is one of the community leaders that everyone looks up to for all things in the community and in Idaho. Um, I am very fortunate to call him one of my very good friends, and he's agreed uh to come on and do these interviews with me this month. In addition to the interviews we'll be doing this month, we have launched a program that started a couple years ago that's called Keep Idaho Moving. It will now be uh housed in the Chamber of Commerce with the Boise uh Chamber of Commerce with uh uh Bobby Joe Muelman. We're excited that we're gonna be announcing that launch and how companies and individuals can get involved with Keep Idaho Moving, which is designed to be a uh business-led uh initiative to coordinate with our jurisdictions uh for things uh surrounding transportation in the state of Idaho and in our Treasure Valley. So our first guest today will be Garrett. Um, we'll talk through um a little bit of his history um and get to know him a little bit better, and then we'll talk about Keep Idaho Moving and the guests that will be coming on this month. Garrett, that's gonna be fun. All right, tell me. You got a little jet lag going on. I got a little bit. You got your coffee. I got my coffee. I might need another one. Oh man, this we've been wanting to have just to talk about you and all that you do, man. I honestly like I I appreciate all that you do in this town and what you're I mean, what you stand for. And how many years have you been at the helm at Simplot now? Eight years. Eight, I can't believe how fast that's gone.

SPEAKER_01

It's flown by. So, you know, my predecessor Bill Whitaker left it in good shape and and the family continues. Eight years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, eight years. So that doesn't like I was thinking on the way in this morning, I thought, I wonder how long it's been, but uh what a ride, a giant company. Like you were just telling me you just got back from Europe, um, potato plants over there in Belgium. And tell us a little bit about just your your day to day and week to week and running a company this big out of Boise, Idaho.

Purpose: Feeding The World And Culture

SPEAKER_01

Well, you know, obviously it's uh it it it's all every day is interesting, it's intriguing. I think that's what's exciting about the job is is one minute you're talking about cattle and cowboys and farming and ranching, and the next second you're talking about McDonald's is a customer of ours to to uh the fertilizer business. So it's got a lot of span in in the position. So it's always intriguing because there's always variety and complexity. But uh, you know, so we travel a lot, we expect to be out there with with our customers and with our employees, actually, because that's where it really happens out in the field. And and so it's just you get humbled when you're out there and see how hard it is to really produce the food that we need to produce to feed the world. That's our it's our our uh our whole purpose is to contribute to feeding the food.

SPEAKER_00

It's what it is. It's it's feeding the world. Um, an incredible story. I mean, we've had uh John Otter on here and we talked a little about the story, and then Butch was on here and talked about it's one of my favorite stories he's ever told. Because you know how he hooks you in, right? He does. And and he and he talks about going over to to JR's house and him telling him you're gonna come work for me and then send him out to the plant. And then it if if anyone hasn't listened to that podcast, it is the best thing ever. Because he had me, you know, you're gonna run this plant, and then he goes out there and they stick him down where the potatoes pop out, and he's like, if you don't do your job right, this is the whole plant runs on this. You're running the plant, son.

SPEAKER_01

We had a meeting in Caldwell, and Butch came and spoke with our a bunch of our growers, and he was telling that story. And I'm telling you, everybody was on the edge of their seats. And when he just said, you know, you get into there and start shoveling those potatoes, because now you're running the plant and make sure you don't stop. Everybody was laughing.

SPEAKER_00

So what a what a uh and and I know for the you know, this is a global how many employees now? 18,000. 18,000 employees.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

One of the largest privately owned companies in the world.

SPEAKER_01

Well, it's a good size, there's no doubt. The the the families invested, the simplot family's very committed to our business, and so we've invested, been able to grow.

SPEAKER_00

And they're still very involved.

SPEAKER_01

They are, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Day to day day-to-day family. They this is a this is a very much still a family business that they're in in tune and in touch with everything that happens. How's that, by the way?

SPEAKER_01

Good, actually, they're good people, is what they are. You know, when it comes down to it, Mr. Simplot, he he created this company, and and I'm not sure if he ever expected it to be the size that it is today, but I think the family always says he'd be very proud uh of of where it sits. And and I I'm gonna say they continued. You just see the the I'll say the the charisma or Mr. Simplot was one of those people. He just he walked into a room. If you met him, you just got a lot of energy, and and the family today wants that to continue as you know, we go out there and we are shaking hands with employees. Last week, hundreds of employees walking through all of our potato plants, one of the family members was with us, and I'm I mean, we just didn't pass an employee. It's just that's what's that's what's great about the job is you get to go out there and thank the people who make it happen.

SPEAKER_00

You know, in a world where there's so much corporate money, um, and it happens to a lot of companies, right? You have founders and and that care and that you know care for the employee all the way down. And we'll we'll get into that with you, Garrett, here in a minute. But then, you know, with private equity coming in, you see how these companies change, right? Um isn't it nice to still be that and I one of the things that I want to talk about with you is you talk about your employees nonstop. I mean, almost every discussion we have about whatever the topic is, it goes back to your employees, their lives, their families. Um, that culture is real, it's it's genuine, and it comes from that family. And I what a great company to be part of.

Family Ownership And People-First Values

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. We're blessed. You know, we we we we work for the Simplot family, but that's why the majority of our employees are there is because we're all family-based. Most important thing to me is my family and and the people that I get to surround be surrounded by every day, um, you know, that make our lives better. And and when it goes to work, it's got to be a work family. And so it doesn't mean you don't need to make the tough calls, you do, but at the end of the day, it's how you make those tough calls and how you move forward and how you handle yourself as an organization. And I think that's where as a company we have high expectations for the way we operate and and act with people, because one of our real pillars of the company is passion for people. And that's something we have to take very seriously. You know, you get more. I always I always tell our employees, you know what, we want you safety is the number one important thing. Always we want you to come to work in a good spot. We want you to leave just as healthy as you were. I just want you more tired. That's all. If you're a little bit tired, then we're great. And so, anyways, and then we get up next morning and and we always say it's an important day when when a simplot uh I want our employees to feel like it's an important day that they've got up because they've helped feed people.

SPEAKER_00

And you know, so so mission driven. I uh you know, it's you used a line that I always say, like we we want you to love your families and your life and find joy. And then if it feels like you're coming to your second family, we're we're doing something right, yeah, right. Yeah, uh that's great. Well, well, hey, uh for those listening, uh Garrett, uh you're an incredible leader. Um tell us a little bit about you and and and and and how this Canadian dude gets down here and then leads this company.

Garrett’s Origin Story And Why Simplot

SPEAKER_01

Well, I'd much rather be asking you questions, Tommy, and you telling me because you your story's incredible. And I appreciate everything about you in the community and and what you do for us in Idaho. You know, my I grew up on a farm, and so growing up, my parents were my my best friends uh and my sisters, and it was a you know, it was a working family farm. And so, and went off to university and and as a summer student in university, I was working for a large German company in the crop protection business, and that company actually fantastic, great people. Um, but one day my parents pulled me into our our family room at our house on our farm and said, Hey, dad's not doing good, and he's gonna need a quadruple heart bypass, something you'd be very familiar with in terms of, you know, with the background that you've got being a physician, um, and said, He is not gonna be able to put in the crop this spring. We're gonna need help. Will you come back to the farm? And I said, Well, obviously I will for sure. And so myself along with my sisters were gonna help out. And uh so just that next day, I go to my boss in this large company and I said, Hey, just as a heads up, my dad's having health issues and I I'm gonna need to be on our farm for you know a week or two come spring. And he said, Garrett, I don't think we can give you the time. And I said, I get it, it's your busiest time of year, I understand it. But I walked out of his office knowing exactly what I was going to be doing. And and the next day I called on Simplot as an intern or summer student, really, and they said, Hey, we want to hire some people out of university, um, just brand new to the work environment, and we want you to grow, grow with our company and grow our sales. And so, and I told the gentleman across the desk, you know, it won't work. Your busiest time is April and May. And he said, Garrett, what do you mean? And I said, I explained the story about my father, and he said, Hey, you go and take care of your family, and when you're done planting the crop, you come back to work. And in his office that day, I said, I want to work for this company for the rest of my life, and that was 34 years ago last week. Yeah, yeah. So you you started in sales 34 years ago? It was a probationary crop uh crop advisor or sales agronomist back then. Probation heavy on the probationary, yeah, yeah. You had to prove yourself for six months, and if you didn't, we'll see you later.

SPEAKER_00

Wow. What what were the early days like? I mean, think think of Simplot 34 years ago. What was that like?

SPEAKER_01

You know, we were we were a small company, we were trying to grow. Um, I was in the retail crop inputs business with a company that was it was soil simplot soil builders, now known as Simplot Grower Solutions. And but the support was there. You know, the the the the people, it was all around people, it was around calling on growers and farmers. And you know, you you you get some you get some religion when you're out there walking fields and and working with growers, and it's their livelihood. It's their success is based on your success is based on their success, is the reality of it. And so going out there and spending time with farmers or recommending what they should do on their fields, um, you know, it's humbling because it takes a lot of work and and effort. But as far as the support from the Simply Company, we were a smaller company then. So you had to, you were the jack of all trades. You did everything. It didn't matter whether you ran a forklift, you ran a sprayer, you hauled bags by hand, you did anything you needed to do is what you did, and then you kept on going and and uh and just built real strong relationships with our customers. That's something that's never changed.

SPEAKER_00

How I was just sitting here thinking, because I've had a we've had a lot of discussions with people over the years, but how important is it to have a guy hired probationary, bottom, bottom rung, man? You and and now CEO for eight years of this 18,000 employee worldwide juggernaut. They've got to be pinching themselves to have someone that came from the inside that really understands the culture, understands the business, under and understands every avenue of the business because it it it is it is a mile deep in many different aspects, whether it be fertilizer or potatoes or all the different things you do. Um gosh, they got they gotta be happy that they've got someone that that that that that came up that way.

SPEAKER_01

I I hope they are, but I know I'm happy. I'm happy that I have them. So it's just been a great experience. It really is. And so, and I think we always talk about as uh as you progress, you know, you you you've just gotta you learn. And and I always say if you're gonna eat crow, eat it fresh. You know, you you tend to make mistakes, and that's how you learn, and just don't make the same mistake twice. We always say that to our people and and move on and grow and learn and have a you know, you gotta have an insatiable appetite for curiosity. You always do, and and to try and understand what's something that we can do better. And so when you start at the bottom, and and really that was the reality, there's a couple messages for me that was really important is it doesn't matter where you are in our organization, you can impact somebody's life. The person that was at the bottom of the organization, very low in the organization, impacted my life because they're the ones who said, Garrett, we want you to come and work with us. And so it doesn't matter where you are, you can impact somebody for the good or the or the bad, right? And that was a really key lesson. But then it was about you have to just surround yourself with great people and always be surrounded by people that are smarter than you and ultimately go out there and and they raise the bar. You want to be around people who raise the bar on you so that you have to actually have to perform. And and if you can do that, you'll learn more, and then you can navigate it and and and learn the business along the way. But all always, you know, again, my predecessor always said, put your hand up, even when you're uncomfortable, put your hand up. And I think that's just very important for all of us as humans to to make ourselves uncomfortable. Don't go always the comfort route. Make yourself uncomfortable, and you you will navigate things if you if you have the work ethic to do it. Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_00

You know, it it every time we talk about the Simplot Company in JR, a couple things come up curiosity, kind of intrigue. What's the kind of the what next what's next? Like, how do I take this next level? And then work ethic. And and you can think about life and those two things. If you can be curious and growing entrepreneurial, the guy was entrepreneurial like totally like the guy, you know, you hear these stories from from his posterity, and it was that was it. But then it was work ethic. What an incredible combo from from this guy.

Learning From The Bottom And Leadership Lessons

SPEAKER_01

Oh, yeah, yeah. And and that lives today. Innovation is a huge part of uh of our organization. Quite frankly, a number of our employees are incented on innovation, is is the reality of it, because we always have to be reinventing ourselves, you know, and and it doesn't mean that, you know, we have to try things and we have to fail at some things. If we're if we're not failing at the odd thing, it means that we're not trying enough. And so, but at the same time, we have to be very clear on where our our our focus is. And you know, for us, our real focus is frozen, it's potato, it's frozen potato, french fries, it's phosphates, non-renewable resource that nearly every living cell in the world needs. So you and I, animals, plants don't exist without it. And then it's our retail business, but then you know crop inputs. But then we have a lot of other ancillary businesses that really tie in. I think Mr. Simplot despised waste. So, you know, I've got excess potatoes, I got potato peels and so forth. Let's feed them to cattle. Those types of things. It was always around sustainable, he was sustainable before sustainability was a word. So really cool. And innovation came into that.

SPEAKER_00

I love that. I'm gonna ask you a question about Bill, but but as you were telling this story, when you guys got in your new headquarters, because I think it speaks to this, and and Bill Whitaker, so the uh former CEO, calls me and he's like, Hey, do you want to come on a tour of the building? And I said, Absolutely. So I ran over and he took me through this incredible building that just I mean, it's it's amazing. It's just an amazing headquarters downtown Boise, and there's just so much pride around like where that is and how that just anyway. But he walks me, he walks me to your greenhouse as part of your thing. And he shows me these strawberries and he goes off on this like 30-minute soliloquy on can you imagine? What if you bought strawberries and you you can you imagine bringing strawberries home from Costco and putting them in your fridge and having them last a little bit longer because of the way and he just I just remember this childlike exuberance of like talking about the science behind these strawberries and what you were doing, and and I thought, gosh, that is it just was infectious. And tell me a little bit about Bill. I mean, I don't know, throw you a little softball, but I I love that guy. I mean, I just consider him one of my mentors and idols, and I just love that guy. I love being with him. He's not around very much because he's enjoying life so much.

SPEAKER_01

But he is. How was it spending time with him? You know, what I loved about Bill, because he was the same. He was a mentor of mine, and he always listened, you know, as as as somebody that you work for. I worked for him for 15 years, and uh, and he just always shared his perspective. He never he never quickly made a judgment. He would listen to you and then give his perspective, and and that's a unique thing that you know people in those types of positions sometimes will will judge pretty quick. But Bill was always that way, and he was just uh he was um a unique individual. You walk into a room and he'll walk out of that room knowing everybody in it. And it doesn't matter if it's 50 people or 200, he figured out a way to have navigate that room, and from a from a company perspective, you know, he was passionate about the Simplot company as well. His history was agriculture, and um, and he was a great leader at the time for us to uh to take ourselves to a different level. We really invested in the base foundation. I, you know, the the way I describe what Bill helped us do with working with the family and our leadership and and all of our employees was he he put a lot of rebar in the foundation, and that's what you have to have as an organization so you can take greater risks, and that's what we've been able to do. And and he really helped navigate that for us as an organization, but he's also just a personal friend. Um, he's one of those people that you can count on, you could have a conversation with his wise and his words, guidance and so forth. And and uh and he was always trying to think about something unique, and and it was always cool to have those conversations.

Innovation, Failure, And Core Businesses

SPEAKER_00

What what a legacy of mentorship. Yeah, I think about him and you know the quality of like everyone thinks he's his best friend, and like how many people think he's a mentor, right? What a what a I mean what else matters more than that in life to have mentored so many people and and everyone thinks you're you're you're you're their friend. Yeah, that's Bill. Yeah, I agree, I agree. Well, that's great. Well, hey, this uh thanks for coming on this month. Um, you know, this year we're doing the doing this co-host thing. So the first year, the first uh month I had Andy Scog in here, it was great. And then last month I had Matt Todd, and then this month with you. So we'll we're gonna be interviewing some some great people here um uh talking about transportation. So uh we've been at this for a couple of years, you and I, and I think uh I think it's important as you see this valley grow, and I'll go over some of the statistics here in a minute, but it's uh we're experiencing explosive growth. We are I mean, uh you you look, I I last night in preparation went back and I I tried to pull some old studies of what what we thought was going to happen. Because you know, every community, especially in the western United States, kind of with all the things we have with outdoors and people love living here, there were projected growth numbers of what we're gonna do, but no one saw this coming. Yeah, nobody, nobody saw what's happening. So, in some ways we're we're we're playing catch-up. You know, a lot of a lot of times with my team here at our company, I say, hey, like let's just try to be on our toes, right? Because because living life on your heels that's a tough way to be, right? When you when you're on defense and you're on your heels, it's tough. And and in a lot of ways, I think as a community, not because it's anyone's fault, we're kind of on our heels a little bit because all this growth's happening, and now how are we going to deal with it? So you and I started talking about transportation specifically, and it's one of those really long-term planning things that if you don't have some uh you know, you don't have some momentum to build on this thing, we just got worried and us talking about it, that that what could we do as a business community to help our elected leaders um who sometimes come in these positions for shorter periods of time. How can the business community help? So we started uh uh a few years ago, uh initially called Idaho 2040. And I remember you calling me and saying, Hey, I think we got the wrong name. Yeah, 2040 is not it's tomorrow. It's tomorrow in the transportation world. So so what was Idaho 2040? And we did we had some good initial meetings and some ideas. Um, as now uh we've rebranded as keep Idaho Moving. And uh I think it's landed at the right place being under the chamber. Uh talk a little bit about uh our plans.

Mentorship And Bill Whitacre’s Legacy

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, I think the initial meeting was in this room, actually, and and you drove it, Tommy, and in. And that's what I appreciate about you is is the saw need. And you know, when it comes to to grow, I we can relate this to a business. The toughest thing we do every day is growth. Growth is a hard thing. It is very hard. So it's hard, you know, when you when you're trying to grow as an organization, but as a community, when you're experiencing growth, like it's we have to acknowledge the incredible work that anybody involved in transportation has done with the dollars they've got, trying to get us to where we are today because it's taken a lot of work. At the same time, we have to prepare ourselves for the next 20, 30, 40 years. You know, it I I commonly people get tired, they think of me as saying it, but I grew up in Canada. I grew up in Manitoba, moved here in 2001. And I always tell people any place you look at the snow and but don't live in it is paradise. And that's where we live. We live in paradise. And we have the access to the outdoors, we have access to a great community, family-oriented community and state. And with that, people want to be a part of that. And so we've seen, we can go to COVID and say we've had this, but the growth was already happening. It just really magnified it, got exponential. And so I think for us to be able to actually understand what our concern is, my concern is, is the fact that our employees and community members are Spending too much time sitting in traffic as opposed to spending time with their family, and that's the feedback. And when you run into that, then you also start having a had hard time recruiting. So people want to move here, but when you want to, you got to get high-end talent as you as you grow as an organization, and that's what we have to have. And that's what we do have in this community, but we have to keep on bringing some of that talent in. And when they start looking at commute times and housing prices from where they were to you know where they are today, we start getting feedback that says, you know what, boys is just a little, it's a bit too tough to live in this in the Treasure Valley. Maybe the house housing prices, we never used to hear that. We've actually heard it from people from California saying it's just I'm better off staying here because it's going to be cheaper for for me to live. Well, we never heard that. That used to be the the appeal here in terms of not just a beautiful place to live, but also um cost of living. And so I think as a community, you know, we've been discovered. And with that, if we don't figure out transportation lanes, the the the it takes so much work and effort. When you start talking land and trying to get land and and and avenues for us to be able to move people around in an efficient manner, that takes a lot of planning, a lot of effort. And I think that's where you really spearheaded this in terms of, hey, everybody, we've got to, we we not only have a development, we have a problem already, we have a developing problem, and that that's gonna get much greater. And personally, I think this whole population, I you know, we're approaching 900,000 in Treasure Valley, and I think we're gonna blow by 1.5 million. I just do, and I think we're gonna be two two million people, and it's not gonna be long down the road.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so here's here's I looked this up last night. So we were at 688 in 2018, okay. 688. Um this year we're gonna go blow by 850. And the the conservative projections are are one million in 10 years. Yeah, I mean the could very conservative. Now, again, if you go back and look at what we thought was gonna happen and what has happened, it we've just missed the mark on that too. Um I'm gonna I'm gonna go back a little bit to what you said because early on when we started talking, we said, hey, there's other communities where the business community has said, hey, how can we help? We just want to be helpful. How do we be helpful over time? And there's some great examples of that. And so because we we said, hey, let's go get some of our the leaders in the community around, but this is going to be a bottom-up deal. It it just is because every time we talk, and you just said it now, it's about the employees, it's about our people that are commuting back and forth every night and their lives and their quality of life with these commutes. And and you know, I for whatever reason I've been going, I've been on the on our freeways a lot this last two weeks. It's already Garrett, there's different times. Well, I was racing back yesterday from downtown, um, had a meeting here at 2 30, and it took me about 45 minutes at 2 30 in the afternoon, 45 minutes to get from the state capitol to my office. And I'm like, there weren't any wrecks, there weren't any. Yep. And I'm like, that's 45 minutes at 2.30 in the afternoon on a Monday afternoon. We're you you look at the population and just the the industry that's here, we got to start thinking about these things. So that was the reason behind it. Uh, talk about uh I I want to talk about her too. I think Bobby Joe Muleman at the Chamber of Commerce is unbelievably situated as a leader with past experience. Because you you get people follow people. Yep. We just talked about Mr. Simplot, we talked about people follow people, and she was at the governor's office. She really understands state politics. Um, she's very good and super personable and and smart as anyone I've ever been around. And now she takes this chamber, chamber job um where I think she's just hitting it out of the park. I know you you were the the immediate past chair, right, of the the chamber voicing metro chamber of commerce. So um we have now put this as a subcommittee of the chamber. Talk a little bit about Bobby Joe and why this is the right place to house this kind of community organization.

Framing The Growth Challenge In Treasure Valley

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, I think Bobby Joe's phenomenal. My exposure actually came at, you know, the governor set up a task force through COVID, and and there was a group of us, there's four of us that were part of that task force. And Bobby Joe obviously was heavily involved in terms of at that time working working for the governor, and and it gave us the exposure to just see how how I'd say great, smart, intelligent, and and and work ethic, just how good she was. And so, anyway, so when the Boise Metro Chamber actually, when when Bill Connors retired and there was a team that got together and they were able to actually hire Bobby Joe as the CEO of the Boise Metro Chamber. And what I love about Bobby Joe is she gets stuff done. Um, and so because of the relationships, that past government experience, yet still understanding how important it is for businesses to drive things and her and her involvement leading the the Boise Metro Chamber, I think it's just a great, it's a great avenue for us as an organization to be able to actually move this forward because she knows how to navigate it and she also has the has the commitment to to try and have a better community because Bobby Joe is also a family person, you know, and so it's another one of those things where she has to me, she has just every every leg of the stool to make this happen.

Keep Idaho Moving: Vision And Chamber Home

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, and she's been fantastic. So we'll we took about a year off from our efforts to kind of rebrand and kind of get it situated and really get our feet underneath this. Um, and then um as we launch this, hopefully as a community, you hear more about this in the coming um weeks and months uh as we launch the effort is keep Idaho moving. Um to this month together, we're gonna today, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna interview and talk to Jason Brinkman, who is the ITD District Three engineer, which should be fantastic. So Idaho Transportation Department has districts. District three is this, you know, that that's where we live and it it's where most of this activity is, but he is an unbelievable guy, new new to his role. And it's gonna be fun to hear him talk about just from the ITD perspective what's gonna happen. Um he's gonna bring Molly McCarty in with with him, who's the chief external affairs officer. Uh, then we're gonna talk to Brian Head, ACHD. I mean, uh, you know, Ada County, they call it the great state of Ada, uh, but it's a big deal. And and it's the only, I was shocked when I, you know, you start doing some research on on uh the highway districts. It's the only one like it in the country where you have a uh Ada County Highway District really controls all our roads and the growth. Um uh they just uh they're experiencing tremendous pressure on them. It'll be fun to talk to him. And then Craig Rayborn uh with Compass is relatively new to the job, and he comes with tremendous experience. It'll we'll talk about it uh in in his interview. But uh this guy comes with uh experience from other jurisdictions who have experienced what we're gonna go through. Um, and he's got a lot of wisdom and his thought process of what we're facing. Uh, you know, I was in his office uh with Bobby Joe uh about a month or two ago, and we walked in and sat down, and and he's like, I just finished these maps. And I'm like, Well, show us to him, right? And he pulls them up on his screen, and Garrett, it was scary, it freaked me out because he said, Here's where we are today, here's we are within 10 years, and he it's got these bubble diagrams of red areas of of gridlock, and and the red pops on this thing, and I'm like, and and I said, Well, is that you know, tell me more about this? And he said, That's with our current level investment and planning, that's where we're gonna be in 10 years. So it really hit home to me that, hey, this is gonna be a worthwhile effort. I don't think we're gonna, you know, cure cancer here. I mean, this is not gonna be an easy thing. This is not gonna be, but I think what's happened already is just getting people talking, getting the business community involved, if we're we're all in this together, and how do we figure out a way to be helpful? Um, really excited to talk to these guests this month. Um when we pivot to kind of some of the biggest things that we're we talk about, um, one is just pressure on our I-84 road. We got one road that goes through the middle of this thing. And and boy, I'll tell you, when you do have an accident on the freeway, it shuts commerce down. Um so uh, you know, I I think a couple years ago, Garrett, when we start talking, you know, there's a lot of bypass alternate route. Yeah, but there's now it's people are starting to talk about it. Jason will talk about it today. Um, we've got to have some other ways to get through this valley. I think Highway 16 gives us a new uh north-south uh uh uh route that's gonna be a tremendous um connector. Um, but there is some talk now of how do we have a bypass on the south side of town and then a north bypass. And there's some really great routes. But talk a little bit more about that one um and how important that is as we talk to our guests this month.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think we like you say, Tommy, we have to have options, is what we have to have. There's not gonna be one solution that's gonna solve all of it. And so if we if we look at something, uh you know, people get nervous when we use the word bypass. I get it, I understand. Yeah, we're at a size now where people are coming to Boise because they're gonna come to Boise and there's a lot of traffic that just wants to get around it. There's a lot of freight that wants to get around it. And so, you know, I think we've used the term southern alternative route, something that allows us to link in and just go around the biggest part of the city so those heavy trucks and and so much traffic isn't going down I-84 because you're right, that congestion. We moved here in 2001. Meridian at 34,313 on the sign coming up the interstate. I used to run in, always work downtown, used to run into traffic part way, you know, west of the of the flying Y when it was built, and then the flying Y. Well, today you just said it yesterday, 2:30 in the afternoon, you're back, you know, backed up to St. Al's is what I will go and drive routes that our employees drive a lot of times just to see what they're experiencing. And it is just it's not a one-time thing, it's constant this backing up of traffic. And so, how do we actually take and from a safety perspective, how do we take those trucks, move them around the city because they're not coming in, they're moving, they're they're going by. And then also, how do we consider things like light rail? I know it's expensive, but we got flat ground, is what we've got. We're not going over bays of water, we're not going over mountains and so forth in most cases. And so, is there the opportunity for that? If there is down the road, pick picture this when it's 1.5 or 2 million people. Not today. Picture it, it's bad today, but picture it when it's 2 million or you know, more than double where we're at. We're gonna need those types of solutions, is what we're gonna need. And and we'll need a more robust internal transportation system. We can save Valley Regional, whatever it is, but I think it really starts with a southern alternative route, considering light rail, those types of options that can help move people around so that our employees, so that people in the community are spending time at home. That that's the reality of it.

Upcoming Guests And Roles In Transportation

SPEAKER_00

So you kind of hit the three quickly. So some sort of and and again, these are just ideas. So they are like when we first started, how can we be helpful just to study ideas, right? Let's get the best information out there, get data, pluses and minuses, uh, funding, you know, there's so many things, but but how do we ask the right questions? And that's how it works in business. If you think about your business, I mean you think about where we started our conversation today. You're you're challenging your employees to innovate. And what are what are the better best better ways to do what are the better ways to grow strawberries? What are the better ways to do potatoes? So in in transportation, are we looking at all those things? The other thing that I found already in dealing with some of the guests we'll have on this month, they appreciate the fact that the business community is willing and ready to say, hey, how can we help you? Yeah, do you need matching funds for a study? How can we be uh of service to you in messaging? Um, they've really embraced this, but that southern bypass as an alternative, this rail thing, and I gotta thank you. Um, Union Pacific, I mean, we got a rail corridor. If you look at our, you know, well, it's not a surprise. This is the way this thing developed was rail, right? But it still exists from the Boise Depot all the way through right downtown Meridian, um, all the way out through uh Ampa and Caldwell, you have this right-of-way, if you will. Um so you've, because of your position at Simplot, I think, been able to at least have some early meetings and and have some willingness for, again, just conversation about things. But but those are the kind of things we need to talk about because it's happened in other jurisdictions and cities where they have been successful figuring some of this out. One of the things I wanted to talk to you a little bit about this month because um it I've been surprised how passionate people get when we talk about these things. Well, we live in a world, Garrett, where you don't have to say much. You can say, you could say, boy, that sunset's beautiful, and it I think it's a shade of amber, and like the there's an opinion there. Yeah, there's an opinion there. So there are very strong opinions about public transportation. The the the first thing you even bring up, and and I'm always surprised how passionate people get early on, and and I and I quickly just say, hey, we're just talking about things, we're just hearing solutions. But there are really bad examples of how public dollars, taxpayer dollars, have tried to solve public transportation issues. The one that's at the top of the news right now is Gavin Newsom and the the train that he was or the um that he was funding. But there are some really good options, good examples too. I think Salt Lake has done a really nice job with their front runner and their light rail, how they've done it, how they funded it. You look at their ridership, uh, I think that's a great example near us. Um, there are also some really bad examples that people bring up. So I think what I want to get out there as part of our efforts as we get going, we're not saying there's a solution. We're not this is just a let's let's study other jurisdictions, let's look at things that have worked, things that haven't worked, let's learn from them, and let's support at the state level, our our governor and funding, let's support our local levels, our cities, our counties, and at our and our at the level of the folks we're gonna have on today, how can we be helpful?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I I totally agree with you. And I think it's about, you know, again, I think your your words are are exactly right on in terms of these are just ideas, yeah, is what they are. And so, and and one thing that, you know, you always learn, and one thing that I found interesting, you you actually brought up um, you know, we can always learn from other places in Salt Lake. Most people think, and I know I really had probably an opinion that that the Olympics were the driver behind Salt Lake and and how they got rail, where whereas you brought that to the table saying no, there was a lot bigger plan around that, around from a business perspective and so forth, that really drove that. And the Olympics ended up complementing it. And so, you know, I think for us, we just have to not have any biases, keep our minds open, and ultimately see what potential solutions can be that are affordable and and how do we how do we fund those as a state or as a as a community, um, and be able to actually again give or give the most precious thing we have is time. Yeah, it doesn't matter who we are, time's the most valuable thing to all of us. And so how do we just give our give people more time?

I‑84 Constraints And Need For Alternatives

SPEAKER_00

Um, the the other thing I wanted to hit on with you before we have these guests on is most of the things we do in life, uh, as far as planning goes, they're pretty short term. With Simplot, you probably have a short, medium, and long-term planning, and you probably do strategy sessions on all three of those things. With transportation, um, I think they do a pretty good job on short-term, like what needs now, what what what's gonna happen. This long-term thing is a hard deal because that's right-away. Yeah, so what people don't realize is the cost of right-away. So the example I like using when I bring this up is early on when we started a couple years ago, the first person we brought in was the old ITD uh region three guy, and he came in and said, hey, I-84 has one more, there's enough right-of-way for one more lane ever, and then that's it. You're not gonna increase the right-of-way of I-84. And if you look at the statistics of what that actually adds from capacity, it's relatively minor anyway. So I-84 being a solution past about probably five to ten years is not a solution for getting people through the through the valley. Um, but but we're really talking about right-away. We're talking about big ideas, we're talking about approaching railroads, which are which is a a very difficult thing to do. Um, acquiring what right away, figuring out problems that are just really hard. I've had some people say to me, Why, why do you want to why do you want to even get involved in this? Why do you why is this important? Why you know life's too short. But I think the quick response after that is my my kids are here, my grandkids are here. And I think about them, you think about how fast you've been at Simplot for 34 years. 34 years. And it flies by. 34 years from now, Garrett, we're gonna be we're gonna be past these dates that I got prepped here in the 2050s, 2060s. These are the issues of our day. And I think good people coming together and discussing things is exactly what we should be doing.

SPEAKER_01

Any thoughts on that? The earlier you can solve problems that are that are coming. And and and I think it's hard, it is hard for people to just naturally to to look 10 and 20 and 30, 40 years out. It really is. And I, you know, I'm blessed. I I love the conversations that we have at the Simplot Company because we talk about 50 and 100 years from now, we literally sit with the family and have conversations around that. That what will we do if this is the case, or how do we handle this? And I think from a from a because of that right-away issue and because land's involved, the earlier we can plan that, the more options we get. We won't have any options. And that's a really bad thing for us as a community. We want to be able to plan where we have options, and I think the earlier we can do it, then the better off we'll all be when it comes down to because the solutions will be better. They'll be more efficient, they'll be better, they'll be cheaper in the big picture. Because if we wait, things will just get more expensive, harder to do, and they may not fit what we really need. And that's the dangerous thing that we have to be very careful of. So I think if we can all align in terms of, you know, line in on the problem, we all have this congestion issue, we want to have more time. Um, we want to be able to actually have a community that's livable, is what we want to have. How do we solve for that when it comes down to traffic congestion? And I think that's our opportunity. And I think all of us, you need to be an engaged member of the community. If you can do that, and it's not to, you know, it's to humbly be there to say, hey, how do we how do we move this along so that we can create the environment we want to live in?

Southern Route, Light Rail, And Options

SPEAKER_00

I love that. I love that. Well, just to kind of recap as we kind of wind down here for our first our first session leading into these guests this month. Uh, so keep Idaho Moving. We'll be under the chamber. We'll have information as this gets released. Um, we'll have a website people can go to and get involved. Um, we I love that it's in the chamber because there's already so many businesses that are involved. It's an easier way to communicate, it's an easier way to get people's ideas and thoughts and opinions. Um, but it's gonna start with kind of a business-led effort to just help. And then hopefully, as we as we get awareness out there with the population, because ultimately um we are a citizen-led republic. I mean, we have people that are involved in these families, and they care about raising their family here, they care about what their livelihood, their livelihoods are gonna be, and they care about what their life is like, their day-to-day life. And I think this issue, uh also people have always been very cynical to me about this transportation. They're like, well, people don't care about that now until it's a problem. Well, we're getting pretty close to where you won't need a billboard, you won't need an ad on KTVB, you're just gonna need enough people sitting in traffic saying, Oh, wait a minute, now my commute between Boise and Caldwell is an hour and 15 minutes or an hour and a half. That that that will be a billboard enough. So I think we're trying to, we're probably we're probably on our heels. We're probably 10 years, we probably should have been doing this for the last 10 years, but we're gonna get in and fight like heck now to try to be helpful.

SPEAKER_01

Well, there's never too late of a time to start. Yeah, that's that's the thing, right? Yeah, and so if we can get some momentum here, I think it's it's for us to wait. It, you know, if the pro there it's a it's already challenging. If it's a massive problem, it is by far too late. Yeah, and so again, realizing or recognizing that you you got to figure out the funding challenges, all of those things. We all get that. You you've been very, very direct and influential, Tommy, in saying, hey, we got something and and we we we can't, we're not gonna go and tell people what do we have to actually be a part of the solution and how can we help people to support them? Because these there's people that are experts that do this every single day. And I love that we've got some people that are bringing different examples from different places because that's exactly how you learn.

SPEAKER_00

And I think you'll hear over and over again as we meet with these guests this month that question what what can the business do to help? What can we do to help? That I mean that's the that's the tone of this. Hey, well, Garrett, um, man, I appreciate you. Like, thank you very much for what you do for this community. Um, for I mean, it seems like you're involved in everything. Um, and just last week I at closing, you uh you gave a speech at Opera Operation Military Blessings, and uh just a little bit about Operation Military Blessings is this great local organization that they provide, they provide basically gift cards for basic needs for new military members. And um and I knew you were speaking on it. I and I couldn't wait to go to it. And we get there, and my my goodness, Garrett, it was yeah, I gotta tell the story. You do because you're the keynote speaker here. Yeah, I shouldn't have been. And well, you you and you were the keynote speaker, and um, you know, uh Governor Kempthorne, who's going some through some stuff right now. Oh god. Oh man, that guy he he just gets me in my heart every time. So he he's one of the board members, and they have a big thing to him. And then Tom Westall is kind of kind of stepping down because he's you know, and and they have these speeches that were just Unreal. I mean, you just wanted to say amen and go home. And then you had to come up. So I text you and I said, Hey, good luck following these guys. And then you hollered it out across the room. But I gotta tell you, Garrett, you got up and it was it was so good. You're so good. You're just awesome. It was so inspiring. I appreciate all you do. You're everywhere that the people are making a difference. And love you and Simplock Company for all you do. And this is going to be fun. I appreciate you, Tommy.

SPEAKER_01

Love you too. And and you do make a difference. That's a key thing.

SPEAKER_00

So thank you very much for having me.

SPEAKER_01

Thanks everybody.