STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Several readers asked this weekend about the high rig that has been boring holes into the highway between Ketchum and Elkhorn road.

Field crews have been doing survey and geotechnical drilling work in preparation for widening the roadway and constructing a new bridge over Trail Creek at Ketchum’s south end.

The drill has been extracting soil samples to determine water saturation and other data that will aid it in the design of the Elkhorn Road to River Street Project.

The Idaho Transportation Department plans to widen the highway in the area and add a curb, gutter, sidewalks, retaining walls and drainage, in addition to a new bridge over Trail Creek.

ITD will share the boring results with the community once data has been evaluated, said ITD project manager Nathan Jerke.

The project is the third roadway improvement project developed as part of the SH-75 Timmerman to Ketchum Environmental Impact Statement completed in 2008.

Now, fingers crossed that they will have time to pave over the b-b-b-b-b-b-b-umpy stretch of highway there that workers recently finished sealing before the snow flies…again.