For the week of March 13 - 19, 2002

Employers meet about commuting problems

Will retail exist in the 
Ketchum of the future?

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By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer

A group of Ketchum and Sun Valley business people told Highway 75 planners Thursday morning that unless the commute by their employees improved, retail businesses might have to move south just as their employees have done.

Lynn McCarthy was one of many business people at the employer workshop on highway traffic on Thursday morning. McCarthy said that staffing problems caused by the commute on Highway 75 led her to end her deli business. Express photo by David N. Seelig

The workshop, held at the Sun Valley Inn on March 7, was organized by Parsons Brinckerhoff’s consultant, Diana Atkins.

PB is the firm the Idaho Transportation Department hired to conduct the National Environmental Policy Act process, a necessary step before the federal government will help pay for future work on the highway.

The workshop was on transportation demand management and some of the TDM strategies that might work for upper Wood River Valley businesses.

These strategies are designed to increase vehicle occupancy and reduce travel time.

According to a PB handout, employer-based programs are used to encourage carpooling or some other alternative to commuting, such as the Peak Hour bus service being promoted by Beth Callister of Wood River Rideshare.

Jane Drussel, owner of Jane’s Paper Place in Ketchum, said she thought commuting problems hurt retail businesses in Ketchum and Sun Valley.

"I don’t see where retail will be a happening thing in Ketchum in the future," she said.

Parsons Brinckerhoff Vice President Tad Widby guided local business people through the different options that could be used to help decrease commute times on Highway 75. PB held the employer workshop to help explain transportation demand management. Express photo by David N. Seelig

She described the difficulty of finding people to work because of the commute, and how she had already lost several employees to the new Albertson’s grocery store in Hailey.

"Albertson’s is not the end of it," she said. "The harder it is to get to Ketchum, the less they will get here."

Lynn McCarthy, owner of Cottonwood Catering and Cooking School in Ketchum, said she had closed her deli because of employee turnaround.

"I lost 20 employees to Hailey over four years because of the commute," she said,

Atkins told the group of about 20 people that solving commuting problems could not be done by altering the highway alone.

"TDM is part and parcel of the Highway 75 corridor," she said.

Joining Atkins were PB vice president Tad Widby and PB traffic engineer Kate Misteravitch.

The two presented results from an employer survey conducted by their firm. Of the 180 surveys sent, 96 were returned—four from Sun Valley, 51 from Ketchum, 26 from Hailey, 13 from Bellevue and two from Carey.

Among other things, they found that more than 50 percent of the businesses believed their employees would use a transit system.

Among their recommendations, they suggested employers develop programs for shifting work hours.

If enough employers changed work schedules around, they could dramatically affect how many cars are on the highway during the peak congestion times of 8 to 9 a.m. and 5 to 5:30 p.m.

 

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