Elk season, jazz fest, roadwork collide

Six-mile tie-up shocks commuters

o21traf3.gif (17649 bytes) Traffic is at a standstill Wednesday evening along Ketchum’s Main Street waiting for ITD crews to clear State Highway 75 after resurfacing the roadway six miles to the south. (Express photo by Greg Moore)

The head of a construction crew repaving state State Highway 75 between Hailey and Ketchum said he is at a loss to explain the monumental traffic jam that occurred last Wednesday afternoon.

By 6 p.m., traffic had backed up for six miles, from the bridge at Greenhorn Gulch to Saddle Road north of Ketchum. Ketchum Police Chief Cal Nevland said the tangle contained about 1,000 vehicles.

Bert Heath, manager of Valley Paving Co., said the crew had one lane of traffic moving at all times, and opened two lanes shortly after 4 p.m.

"I have no idea where all the people came from," Heath said. "As far as we can figure out, it was the jazz festival and the day before elk season opening.

"I apologize to anyone we inconvenienced, but we did our best to keep the traffic flowing," he said.

Jon Schierman, a spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department, said the construction crew was paving the easternmost one-third of the highway until 5 p.m., so the two opened lanes were very narrow. Crews and equipment left the roadway at 5:30 p.m.

Heath said the project was completed Thursday.

"The whole project since it started had been very inconsiderate to commuters," Nevland contended.

He said his department could only keep the jam from blocking cross streets in Ketchum.

"I know the tie-up inconvenienced a lot of people, but we’re far more concerned about some kind of medical emergency, and fire trucks being able to get across Main Street," he said.

Ketchum Fire Chief Tom Johnson said any medical emergency in mid-valley should be covered by an ambulance at the department’s Green Gulch station.

"I would say that at this point in our lives in the Wood River Valley, we have good response to medical emergencies," Johnson said.

A spokeswoman for the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office said the department had little involvement in untying the snarl.

"We just made a few phone calls to the Idaho Department of Transportation," she said.