For the week of August 7 - 13, 2002

Hailey highway project on schedule

ITD: Work should be done by Aug. 20

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By GREGORY FOLEY
Express Staff Writer

Crews from Bellevue-based Valley Paving have started work to resurface a 1.3-mile stretch of Main Street in Hailey, and are on schedule to finish the project by Tuesday, Aug. 20, an Idaho Transportation Department official has announced.

Crews from Valley Paving of Bellevue on Monday used a massive milling machine to remove the asphalt surface of Main Street in Hailey. Workers are scheduled to resurface the road with new asphalt starting next Monday.

Tom Logan, ITD project manager, said Monday that crews through Thursday are scheduled to tear up the old road surface from Airport Way near the town post office to just south of McKercher Boulevard near Albertsons’ supermarket.

State contractors on Friday will start paving a "test strip" along the busy stretch of road to determine what mix and density of asphalt will best suit the project, Logan said.

Crews on Monday will start resurfacing the section of Main Street with new asphalt, and will then replace the manholes and paint new street markings Aug. 19 and 20, Logan said.

Work will start on the south end of the city and move north, Logan noted.

Measures will be taken to try to reduce the project’s impact on traffic flow along the busy stretch, which through town is designated as both Main Street and Highway 75.

At least one lane in each direction will remain open to traffic at all times during the project, and two lanes will be kept open for commuter traffic—heading north in the morning and south in the afternoon—at most times, Logan explained.

No official detour will be established for motorists to get around the construction area, Logan said.

"However, motorists would be advised to follow alternate routes," he said.

Traffic in downtown Hailey could also be slowed next week by temporary changes to the traffic signal at the intersection of Main Street and Croy Street. Logan said the traffic lights at the intersection starting Monday will be operated temporarily on timed sequences instead of programmed light triggers attached to traffic sensors.

Valley Paving also is scheduled to resurface a section of Highway 75 through downtown Ketchum, starting after Labor Day, and Sun Valley Road from Ketchum to the National Forest boundary just east of Trail Creek Cabin in October.

Logan added that the state’s ongoing project to widen Highway 75 from Alturas Drive to Timber Way is on schedule for completion by Sept. 1.

He said Idaho Sand & Gravel crews will start paving the roughly two-mile stretch starting around Aug. 19.

"We’re getting down to the point where once the paving is completed, we’re just going to be doing cleanup and landscaping," Logan said.

The new section of the highway should be open to motorists on Labor Day weekend, Logan said.

 

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