The Idaho Transportation Department announced Thursday that it will resurface the 10-mile stretch of highway between Hailey and Ketchum later this year because of cracks and holes in the roadway that are appearing and growing larger.
"It's crumbling," said ITD District Engineer Devin Rigby. "We're trying to hold it together, but we do have a project we're working on."
Rigby said the highway surface isn't likely to last until construction starts on a state Highway 75 expansion project in 2013.
The ITD announcement came at a Thursday morning meeting of the Blaine County Regional Transportation Committee, an advisory group chaired by Blaine County Commissioner Chair Angenie McCleary. The committee meets quarterly to coordinate transportation issues affecting the county.
Membership includes representatives of the Blaine County Sheriff's Office, the county road and bridge department, local municipalities, the Blaine County School District, Mountain Rides Transportation Authority and ITD.
Rigby told the committee that resurfacing the highway could start as early as June. At the urging of committee members, he said ITD will try to avoid resurfacing during peak tourist season, from July through Labor Day weekend. If resurfacing doesn't start in early June, it will likely be delayed until September.
The surfacing project will last about a month. The estimated cost is $4 million.
In other highway business, Rigby said traffic seems to be heeding the new speed restrictions near Timmerman Junction south of Bellevue.
"It's up and operational," he said. "Law enforcement was out this morning and traffic was slowing down."
The new speed restrictions went into effect Tuesday. The speed limit on northbound and southbound traffic on Highway 75 was reduced from 55 mph to 45 mph for about a half mile on either side of the junction. Eastbound and westbound traffic on U.S. Highway 20 is still required to stop.
Rigby also reported that a "half dozen dump truck loads" of vegetation, mostly willows, were removed this week from near the intersection to improve visibility.
"The guys were up to their armpits there and they got a lot done," Rigby said. "It's important for us to do this, but it's not the solution for the accidents."
Mike Scott, ITD project engineer for the highway expansion project, said plans remain on schedule to start construction on the first phase of the project in 2013.
The project involves expansion of Highway 75 along the 27-mile stretch of roadway between Timmerman Junction and Saddle Road in north Ketchum. The estimated cost is $250 million.
The first phase of the project is to expand the highway for 3.25 miles between Timber Way, just north of East Fork Road, and the Big Wood River Bridge near St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center.
Scott announced that after consultation with federal highway authorities, ITD has decided to build a 600-foot noise-reduction wall on the west side of the highway at Cold Springs Mobile Home Park.
Scott said public comment has been about 50-50 for or against the wall, but the final environmental impact statement for the expansion project requires that the wall be built because the "owners and the tenants were very much in favor of it."
Rigby said in an interview that the wall will have a "rock texture surface similar to the retaining wall on Galena Summit."
Though some local officials earlier opposed the wall, no opposition was voiced during Thursday's committee meeting.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
The Idaho Transportation Department plans to resurface state Highway 75 between Hailey and Ketchum later this year to take care of cracks and holes. Photo by David N. Seelig
