STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The moment we’ve been dreading since last summer is fast approaching.

The Idaho Transportation Department will resume work on Highway 75 from Elkhorn Road to River Street beginning Wednesday, April 1, weather permitting.

No, it’s not an April Fool’s joke.

One lane will remain open in each direction between Elkhorn Road and Serenade Lane. Northbound traffic will continue to be permitted to follow the highway into Ketchum, as it is doing now. But there may be some short-term closures of that passage, as there have been in the past couple weeks, due to work on the Trail Creek Bridge.

In the event of a short-term closure, northbound traffic will be diverted onto Serenade Lane and Second Avenue.

Speed limits will be reduced to 25 miles per hour from 35.

Idaho Transportation Department officials advise commuters to expect delays. Last summer Gimlet residents said their commute times for what is normally a 15-minute trip sometimes exceeded an hour.

This summer’s construction will include utility work, highway widening and sidewalk building. Temporary asphalt laid down as winter approached last year will have to be torn up.

Ketchum Mayor Pete Prekeges said ITD is still assessing whether the Trail Creek Bridge can be mapped out to accommodate four lanes. Eighty percent of a thousand residents  responding to a survey put out by the City of Ketchum last year said they wanted four lanes.

A four-lane option would avoid vehicular constriction, allowing for two lanes of travel both north and south from Buttercup Road in Hailey through Ketchum.

Construction was originally expected to run from May through October. But with last year’s work delayed by a late start to the utility work, ITD is starting early this year. Officials have warned the project may not be completely finished until 2027.