The Ada County Highway District is celebrating half a century of building and maintaining roads in the area and the rich history that comes with that task.

City leaders, state representatives, and former commissioners joined past and present employees for lunch at ACHD's headquarters Wednesday.

In celebration of 50 years, ACHD will seal a time capsule to be opened in 2071. Items in the capsule include road salt, a reflective road sign, a toy vacuum truck, an ACHD mask, and photos of past and current projects.

The occasion was also marked with a cake cutting by ACHD's most senior and newest employees. Ron Sperl who has served the District for 49 years, and Avery Foerster, former intern and working in her first week as a full-time employee, cut the cake with a sword.

"We were created as the result of an unselfish public outcry concerning the quality of local government services including transportation infrastructure," said Kent Goldthorpe, ACHD's current commission president. "There are none others like us, which is unfortunate because there certainly ought to be."

Ada County Highway District Director Bruce Wong recognized current and former team members.

"All of you are the inspiration of ACHD yesterday, ACHD today, and the ACHD of tomorrow," Director Wong said. "It has been and continues to be my honor to lead this amazing team."

The Ada County Highway District was approved by voters in 1971, creating a new agency to oversee all the county's local roads. The agency was formed in response to inconsistent roads and road funding in Ada County. The Idaho Legislature approved the formation of the new agency during the next legislative session. The Ada County Highway District is the first, and currently the only county-wide highway district in Idaho.