STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Wake up, sleepy head! It’s time to hit the road for another teeth-grinding commute into Ketchum.

And, if you plan to turn into or out of two streets along the route, you might want to get going 15 minutes early.

Expect the access into River Ranch Road opposite Elkhorn Road and Neil’s Way south of Ketchum to be restricted for 15 minutes this coming week as highway construction crews remove the current roadway in those areas.

Crews will begin removing the asphalt on the west side of State Highway 75 on Monday, July 21, to allow crews to build the new roadway. Utility companies will also relocate utility lines in the work zone.

One lane in each direction will remain open on the highway.

The work is part of a two-year project to improve the highway south of Ketchum, replace the Trail Creek Bridge and build sidewalks leading into Ketchum.

Road construction has proven a headache for commuters and Ketchum businesses who are losing customers who fret about getting stuck in traffic driving into Ketchum. One business owner said she was charged an extra $300 by those who came to fix something in her shop for the time they spent stuck in traffic.

But the construction has proven a boon for bicycle traffic, turning K-Town into a bicycle town. Thirty-eight bicycles—many of them young parents with a child or two and maybe even a dog on back—passed Gimlet Road enroute to jobs and day cares in Ketchum during a half-hour period on the morning commute last week.

And one bicyclist heading south counted 61 bicycles between Gimlet Road and East Fork Road at about 10 a.m. Wednesday. Did we mention the 28 bicycles parked around Starbucks during the noon hour on Friday?