BY KAREN BOSSICK

The sight of workers tearing up newly laid asphalt on the new bridge south of Ketchum was enough to give heartburn to more than a few motorists on Monday.

It seemed a huge setback just when they thought the bridge might be nearing completion after nearly two years of work.

But take cheer, says Nathan Jerke, public information specialist for the Idaho Transportation Department. The end could come by the week of Aug. 14.

Jerke said the asphalt that Valley Paving laid down nearly two weeks ago did not pass quality testing. There were air voids trapped within the asphalt. Any number of things can cause air voids, including too much moisture or too much fine material.

But the upshot is that it affects the quality of the asphalt.

“We lay two layers of asphalt and this was the bottom layer. Had we left it in and put another layer on top, the bottom could have crumbled underneath the stress of the traffic in a few years. We decided we wanted to make sure we got a road that’s going to give us 20 to 30 years before we have to come back and redo it,” said Jerke.

ITD and the contractor spent most of last week discussing what to do about it before determining that the contractor needed to remove the asphalt to get the right product on the roadway.

Until ITD accepts the product, the cost is borne by the contractor so the taxpayers are not out a significant amount of money, Jerke said.

Jerke said the contractor hopes to repave the roadway either Wednesday or Thursday.

“As long as we don’t have other issues with the asphalt, hopefully by the end of the weekend we will have both layers of asphalt down. At that point, two lanes of traffic will be shifted into the middle of the bridge so they can install the guard rail, put in traffic signs and ready the roadway for striping,” he added.

Workers will also install artwork on the bridge. There will be an official unveiling at a yet-to-be-determined date in the next few weeks with the artist in town to explain the concept.

If everything goes well, the bridge could be opened the week of Aug. 14 and the orange barrels removed just in time for the 30,000 to 60,000 visitors expected to head up the highway to view the Great American Solar Eclipse on Aug. 21.

Don’t expect ITD to throw a celebration party, though, even though morning commuters will be elated not to have to crawl along at 5 miles per hour through the construction zone.

“I think most people will just be happy just to see us off the bridge and out of the way,” said Jerke.

Jerke acknowledged there were periods when it seemed as nothing was being done on the bridge.

There were a couple weeks, for instance, that there were just a few guys out there engaged in the tedious process of tying rebar. And, once, subcontractors poured the concrete on the bridge, they had to wait three weeks for the concrete to gain strength before they could move on to the next thing.

Workers also had to rein in work for two weeks during the month of June when subsurface water from the high river saturated the road base and they had to wait for that to dry out.

Jerke said the ITD will not remove any of the trees that accumulated in the area during flooding at this point because the concrete pilings have gained sufficient strength.

“However,” he said, “If the logs don’t break free on their own next spring and they start damming up the river and putting too much pressure on the bridge, we will go in and pull them out.”