Ratzilla’s Tunnel

It’s beginning to look like a giant gopher is taking over the valley. Enormous berms, which must be home to Ratzilla, have erupted along the highway between Ketchum and Hailey. Blaine County has finally taken note, and officials say they want to regulate the berms.

Officials ignored the eruptions for a long time, but they grew wider and taller each year. The benign neglect was a green light for property owners who wanted to block the sight and sound of the highway.

That’s understandable. Everyone wants peace and quiet at home. A combination of earthen berms, trees and bushes can absorb much of the light and sound generated.

But Ratzilla has gone too far.

Some of the berms are beginning to look like canyon walls. They scream for government intervention.

Had all property owners built berms of a moderate size, there would be no reason to regulate, no reason to create more red tape, more penalties for non-compliance, more opportunities for Big Brother to meddle in yet another aspect of people’s lives. With a little restraint and good taste, berms could have been built along the highway and become a nice green border. Yet, someone always seems to believe that bigger is better.

Blaine County must come up with a uniform berm plan for areas along the highway. It should evict Ratzilla.

The county should make sure earthen walls do not encroach into the highway right of way and that they do not interfere with traffic or snowplowing. The berms should look good, which means there should be some variation in how far they are set back from the highway and how they are landscaped.

Otherwise, the highway might as well be re-engineered and renamed Ratzilla’s Tunnel. When that happens, someone should give the Idaho Transportation Department a call and let them know it should remove the "scenic" designation from State Highway 75 on the road maps.