Idaho legislators should be able to review results from a study of raising Minidoka Dam by five feet when they meet in January, after the proposal narrowly avoided being dropped over potential issues with Interstate 86.

The proposal is one of several possible dam projects that could increase storage across the state. The work is being done by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, funded with $1.4 million set aside by the Legislature in 2008.

Originally planned to conclude early next year, the study is "on the fast track" to produce some draft results in time for the 2010 session, said Hal Anderson, administrator of the Idaho Department of Water Resources' planning and technical services division. If any expansion work is approved, state officials still want to be able to time it with a spillway renovation project also being done by Reclamation.

"If we need to do anything," Anderson said, "we're going to have to get some sort of a nod from (legislators), this session even, to keep up with the Bureau's schedule."

The storage suggestion was actually almost abandoned this fall after the federal and state water agencies, as well as the Idaho governor's office and the Burley Irrigation District, feared they would have to re-route I-86 to avoid flooding. The groups agreed in August to take a closer look at the problem, but concluded that only a few overpasses would have to be rebuilt, Anderson said - adding just a few million dollars to a project that already could cost $200 million.

Also in August, Reclamation assured state officials that the project can still be done after the spillway work is complete, though not without some consequence.

"It would be more expensive," Anderson said.