The last six miles of paved roadway out Trail Creek northeast of Sun Valley may finally see road work this summer if the county is successful in its efforts to gain federal funding for the project.
Drivers who use rural Trail Creek Road to access the Big Lost River Valley to the east know that calling the route "paved" is putting it charitably. Years of brutal winter conditions followed by spring freeze-and-thaw events that send rock and mudslides pouring onto the road have left it in a deteriorated state.
The funding the county is seeking for the road work would come from the South Central Idaho Resource Advisory Committee. The committee, which includes elected officials and members of the public, doles out federal funds to approved projects in Blaine, Camas, Cassia and Twin Falls counties. The money comes from Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000.
The law compensates counties for reduced tax revenue because of federal land within their boundaries. It provides funding for infrastructure work as well as stewardship projects that enhance forest ecosystems and restore and improve land health and water quality.
According to Char Nelson, Blaine County's operations and special projects manager, the county is asking the committee for $67,000 for the project. She said it has $180,000 to devote to projects in the four counties.
She said the cost of the project proposals submitted to the county apparently do not exceed the amount of funding that's available. But whether the county's roadwork proposal meets the guidelines for the funding remains to be seen. The overall cost of the work is $105,000, Nelson said.
The remaining cost of the project will be covered by using in-house labor and equipment from the Blaine County Road and Bridge Department.
If it secures funding, the county will shore up the road's deteriorating shoulders and then chip seal the surface.
"We're going to lose the (road) base if we don't repair it," Nelson said.
Jason Kauffman: jkauffman@mtexpress.com
A worker from the Blaine County Road and Bridge Department works to remove a rockslide from the rural Trail Creek Road in 2006. The county is seeking federal funding to repair the last six miles of pavement on the deteriorating roadway. Photo by David N. Seelig
