For the week of April 16 - 22, 2003

Options for SH 75 south of Ketchum detailed

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

An Idaho Transportation Department consultant last week told Ketchum City Council members that the agency is considering numerous options for expanding Highway 75 south of the city, including one that would establish four traffic lanes from Elkhorn Road to Serenade Lane.

Diana Atkins, a state consultant from Utah-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, said Monday, April 7, that ITD’s proposed expansion of Highway 75 through the Wood River Valley includes several designs that could change the roadway’s approach and entrance into Ketchum.

Apart from a standing option to make no improvements to the highway, ITD is proposing widening the highway to four lanes with a center-turn lane through the McHannville area, as well as widening or replacing the Big Wood River Bridge north of McHannville, Atkins said.

Options for highway improvements between Elkhorn Road and Serenade Lane include establishing four "tight" traffic lanes within the existing right of way through Reinheimer Ranch, or installing either two or three "standard" traffic lanes.

From Serenade Lane to the Trail Creek Bridge, ITD is considering using the existing right of way to establish:

• Two 14-foot-wide traffic lanes with two-foot shoulders plus curbs, gutters and six-foot sidewalks on both sides.
  
   
• Two 11-foot-wide lanes with a 12-foot center-turn lane, two-foot shoulder, curb and gutter, and sidewalk on the east side. The design would require a retaining wall on the west side.
  
   
• Two 11-foot-wide lanes, 12-foot center-turn lane, 7-foot-wide parking strip on the west side, curb and gutter, and sidewalks on both sides. The design would also require a retaining wall on the west side of the highway.

Apart from the three options outlined for the stretch approaching Trail Creek Bridge, Atkins noted that other configurations within the right of way "may be possible."

ITD officials have scheduled a "drop-in storefront office" today from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Wood River Inn in Hailey, to provide information on the proposed expansion of Highway 75 through the Wood River Valley.

ITD consultants and officials will exhibit revised maps for alternatives to widen the highway and will present a set of changes made to the plans for the section between Highway 20 and Gannett Road. No formal presentation will be made, but officials will be available to discuss the plans and answer questions.

 

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