IDAHO — Have you been to the DMV lately and are you waiting for a new license plate? Well, due to a failed piece of equipment, Idaho Department of Transportation officials say there was a huge delay in making the plates.
But, if you are waiting on one to show up — you are now in luck. ITD officials say things are back up and running as normal after a failed piece of equipment caused an almost two-month delay.
“We partner with the correction industries, and they notified us that there was a piece of equipment that there was a failure. That piece broke so they were unable to complete the license plates,” ITD Communications Manager Josh Tomlinson said.
The machine went down in the second week of June, putting production to a halt and causing a 6-8 week delay he says.
“They were able to produce the license plates, they were just unable to finish the last piece. That’s what the equipment does it kind of puts it all together,” Tomlinson said.
Now, ITD and the corrections department officials say things are back up and running and crews were able to prep other parts of the process to speed things up.
“They were able to get like the envelopes addressed, they tried to get everything ready and prepped to go so as soon as they got that piece up, they started working overtime,” Tomlinson said. “They started working 13 hour days to catch up on that backlog.”
They still say they are 5 weeks behind but hope to be all caught up by the end of the week.
ITD also informed law enforcement agencies about the delay. Paper licenses will be valid for as long as there is still a backlog in production, even if the paper license is past the expiration date.
