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Produced & Maintained by Idaho Mountain Express, Box 1013, Ketchum, ID 83340-1013 
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Copyright © 2001 Express Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

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For the week of July 11 - July 17, 2001

  Editorials

Crash dummies


The Wood River Valley deserves better than it’s getting from the Idaho Transportation Department.

The ITD is treating drivers like crash dummies.

When this summer’s bridge replacement and highway widening began on State Highway 75, East Fork residents suddenly found themselves unable to determine whether they could safely turn onto the highway from East Fork road because their view of oncoming traffic was blocked by temporary concrete barriers.

After a couple of weeks and some hair-raising close calls, some distressed residents decided to quit suffering in silence and to demand that the ITD correct the problem.

That residents had to demand a solution for an obvious danger was bad enough. Then came the solution.

A dirt-road detour was constructed from East Fork Road south to a temporary new intersection where drivers could see oncoming traffic. But there was a hitch.

After another spate of close calls, the ITD finally realized that vehicles with a wide turning radius, most trucks and SUVs, couldn’t enter the highway going north without entering the opposite lane of traffic. Holy seatbelt, Batman!

Last we knew, the ITD employed a lot of engineers, folks who supposedly make their livings calculating things like view distances and turning radii.

You wouldn’t know it by this job. If there aren’t red faces all around in the ITD, there should be.


The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.