STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Think the roadwork is over? NOT.

Crews are finishing up the paving of Buttercup Road, and Main Street Ketchum is open again with sidewalks almost finished and traffic lights working again. But new road work will commence in the south valley and the north valley on Monday.

The Idaho Transportation will begin a scrub coat on Highway 75 through Bellevue on Monday, Oct. 7. Work is expected to last through Wednesday, Oct. 9, with one lane in each direction to be closed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Crews will be applying a thin overlay of asphalt to fill the many cracks and potholes on the roadway. The posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour will not be reduced during this time.

In Ketchum Intermountain Gas will begin relocating their utility lines at the Trail Creek Bridge at Ketchum’s south end. The work will cause full lane closures on the bridge for up to four weeks.

Drivers should use the Serenade Lane/Second Avenue detour. There also will be access to Leadville Street.

The work needs to be done ahead of the Idaho Transportation department’s Elkhorn Road to River Street project, which will begin in 2025 and conclude in 2026. Trail Creek Bridge will be replaced during that time.

The east lane will be replaced in 2025 and the west lane in 2026. That project is supposed to commence in spring 2025.

Idaho Power plans to bury power lines south of Ketchum later this year. Tree removal work is expected to begin soon to make way for the roadway work.

Idaho Transportation Department will be sharing final design plans for its upcoming work at an open house on Tuesday, Oct. 29. The open house will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. that day at the Ketchum Limelight Hotel. To learn more, visit https://itdprojects.idaho.gov/pages/idaho75.