The Idaho Transportation Department is beginning the process of widening state Highway 75 from just north of the East Fork intersection to the Big Wood River bridge, north of St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center.
However, it will be more than three years before commuters are free of the bottleneck that occurs during rush hour where the highway narrows to two travel lanes.
At a meeting on Tuesday at the Old County Courthouse, Blaine County commissioners heard from representatives from ITD and contracted consultants WHPacific, for design, and KMP Planning, for public involvement and coordination.
Mike Scott, ITD's project manager, outlined the schedule for the design improvements, which would have the highway expanded to two travel lanes in each direction along the 3.2-mile stretch.
Preliminary and final design, including public hearings, right-of-way identification and roadway design, will begin this fall and last until mid-2011.
That will be followed by the acquisition of necessary right-of-way, purchasing parcels from property owners adjacent to the highway and in the path of the expansion. Tracy Olson, project designer for WHPacific, said property acquisition, estimated to take about two and a half years, is the longest part of the process.
After bids from contractors are solicited, construction is slated to begin in spring 2013.
The expansion of this portion of highway is part of a larger project to improve 27 miles of the highway from Timmerman Junction, south of Bellevue, to just north of Ketchum. Scott said the work will be broken down into nine projects over 15 years.
Scott said an environmental impact statement regarding this project was recently completed after being developed for the past eight years. The complete report, which totals more than 1,000 pages, is available to the public on ITD's Web site, www.itd.idaho.gov.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
