The downtown Ketchum crater is gradually being filled in, and what that means is construction of the first phase of the Fourth Street Heritage Corridor is right on schedule for a July 1 opening.
Ketchum City Administrator Ron LeBlanc said the intersections at East Avenue and Walnut Avenue will be paved this week, enabling cross-street traffic to more easily navigate the downtown.
"There is considerable work going on, and the (sidewalk) pavers are going in at the rate of about 1,000 feet per day," he said.
The Fourth Street project has been 30 years in the making. The pedestrian corridor will include wider sidewalks, narrower streets and will eventually run the entire length of Fourth Street, from Spruce to Second Avenue--an eight-block span.
At a meeting of the Ketchum City Council on Monday, June 4, officials weighed whether or not to continue construction on portions of the corridor this fall, when the peak tourism season has waned.
"The engineering on the Walnut Avenue to Spruce section is about 90 percent done," LeBlanc said. "From Leadville to Main Street it's not complete, but it could be complete (enough) to get this out to bid."
Following some deliberation, the council decided not to interfere further this year with the downtown core, but determined that the block between Walnut and Spruce avenues could entertain work.
The entire corridor, from Spruce through Second Avenue, is planned to require three years of construction, with roughly two to three blocks completed each year.
"I think it's really important that we develop a schedule for the areas west of Leadville and say we're going to stick to it, and this is what's going on," Councilman Steve Shafran said.
This spring, the transition from peaceful city street to major construction zone between Leadville and Walnut avenues was not an easy one.
City Hall was inundated with telephone calls in late March when a half-mile of chain-link fence was wrapped around a two-block portion of Fourth Street and heavy machinery moved in. The downtown Ketchum rumor mill was full of theories and disgruntled business owners.
On several occasions, LeBlanc fielded telephone calls alleging construction crews had abandoned the site and that the job would never be completed.
"It was 4:30 in the afternoon," LeBlanc said. "They went home for the day."
In addition to widened sidewalks and narrower streets, the completed corridor will include new red maples that will add a splash of crimson in an otherwise gold valley during autumn. It will include installation of sidewalk pavers, signs and street lights, and the sidewalks, which will be flush with street elevations, will be heated using "green" ground-source geothermal energy. The corridor will also accommodate the city's bike path and include public art and public gathering places.
"This is not a pedestrian mall," LeBlanc said. "It is still a street."
It will, in fact, be both.
LeBlanc said the corridor is expected to become a pedestrian-friendly environment that will encourage people to get out of their cars.
"Over time I think the business environment will try to market that," he said.
The first phase will cost roughly $900,000, and the entire project could run in the neighborhood of $4.5 million.
