Bike path shifts for St. Luke’s

By presenting plans to move the bike path, the Blaine County Recreation Department snapped another piece of the St. Luke’s hospital puzzle into place last week.

A short section of the Wood River Valley Trail System from Cold Springs Canyon Road south to Broadway Run will tuck against the toe of the eastern hillside, Power Engineers’ Lynn Askew proposed to the rec district board of directors.

A gentle grade of between one and four percent will be barely detectable to users of the path just miles south of Ketchum, Askew said.

The trail will be moved to accommodate the new St. Luke’s hospital and a county road that will be proposed for where the current bike path runs.

The pinnacle of the plan is a 60-foot long tunnel ducking under State Highway 75 at Broadway Run.

A narrowing transition between the 14-foot wide path and the 10-foot wide tunnel will stretch an easy 100 feet, Askew said.

The new tunnel’s design will resemble the one immediately to the north, under Cold Springs Canyon Road.

A spring will run down the trail, and the water will be piped back uphill through a buried culvert.

There will be a four-foot wide access to the unpaved Bald Mountain Trail near the Cold Springs Canyon Road.

After rec district director Mary Austin Crofts requested Power Engineers re-vegetate the new trail area with native flora, she said, "as far as I can tell, it’s fine."

The new path avoids wetlands and avalanche zone areas, Askew said, adding Power Engineers has an affidavit from nearby property owners agreeing to grant easements for the new path.