Residents confront proposed Highway 75 project
Some support widening; others seek alternatives
By KEVIN WISER
Express Staff Writer
This enhanced photo illustrates how
Highway 75 would look following proposed improvements and widening to five lanes. The view
looks north toward Ketchum from the McHanville area. The illustration was part of
consultant CH2M Hills corridor study presented at Thursdays open house. Photo
courtesy of CH2M Hill.
Local reaction was mixed Thursday night as highway planners presented
the latest in an ongoing study of improvements proposed for state Highway 75 over the next
20 years.
A series of "open house" meetings had been scheduled to
gather public input in preparation for a final draft of a highway study being prepared by
a Boise-based consulting firm. The study affects a 26-mile-long segment between U.S Route
20 and Saddle Road, north of Ketchum.
About 125 Wood River Valley residents attended the third and final open
house last week during a four-hour session at Wood River Middle School. Easels encircled
the auditorium with charts, graphs and illustrations of proposed highway improvements.
According to CH2M Hill engineer Theodore Reynen, main issues in the
study involve the efficient moving of traffic through the valley; allowing safe and
convenient crossing and access to the highway; and creating a highway design that is the
least intrusive to the rural character of the valley.
Reynen said an option that could widen the highway is based on traffic
forecasts.
According to the consultants study, Highway 75 has an acceptable
capacity of 13,000 vehicles a day. Since 1990, traffic has increased 41 percent to 15,000
vehicles on an average day, according to the consultant. The study predicts a traffic
volume increase of 50 percent over the next 20 years.
Reynen said that traffic numbers on Highway 75 are now at the end of
the capacity for a two-lane highway, and that five lanes are necessary due to increasing
traffic and projected growth in the valley.
A consensus appeared to develop among those who attended the meeting
that something should be done to improve the highway transportation system in the Wood
River Valley in light of projected growth. However, there was no consensus on how this
should be accomplished.
Most favored widening the highway while some were more inclined to
consider alternative forms of transportation and highway design before implementing a plan
that could impact the valley.
Mary Jane Conger, chair of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, said
she was disappointed that the presentation did not address alternatives to widening the
highway.
"Due to the projected traffic increase, the ITD and CH2M Hill have
decided that Highway 75 will be five lanes from Timmerman Hill to Saddle Road,"
Conger said. "Yet outside highway planners say that five lanes is not
necessary."
Conger said that solving the problems of the highway transportation
system should include discussion and dialogue about alternatives.
"We need to be looking at other forms of moving people up and down
the highway such as car pooling and mass transit," she said. "Alternatives will
allow the transportation system to fit in with a livable community
instead of just
having a chunk of asphalt running down the valley."
Humphrey agreed there is the potential within the Highway 75 corridor
for alternative forms of transportation, but argued that they would not solve immediate
problems.
"We need to do the improvements first and address the immediate
issues of highway safety and efficiency and then think about alternatives," he said.
A major concept expressed by residents in the first two open house
meetings had been the need for safe and convenient access and crossing of the highway
within and between the cities of the Wood River Valley.
In addressing that conflict, the study proposes the installation of a
number of traffic lights along the highway between cities. Locations include Gannett Road,
Woodside Drive, Countryside Road, Fox Acre Road, Deer Creek Road, Ohio Gulch Road, East
Fork Road and Serenade Lane.
Reynen said the next step in the corridor study is to review public
comments and create the final draft of the study, which should be largely completed by the
end of the year.
He said there would be another round of meetings with officials from
each city in the valley before the study draft is finished along with a number of meetings
with the Highway 75 Steering Committee, made up of county and city officials, during the
draft process.
According to Blaine County Commissioner Leonard Harlig, public hearings
will be held throughout the valley once the consultants study is completed to give
residents an opportunity to review and comment on the final corridor draft.