BY KAREN BOSSICK

It took me 1 hour 15 minutes to drive three miles to Ketchum on Thursday and Friday to indulge myself in some last turns on Bald Mountain as Sun Valley’s ski season winds down.

I and my fellow drivers mostly crawled along at 1 mph with frequent stops to stare at the scenery, as road construction resumed for the second straight summer. It offered me plenty of time to ponder how—one year into the project—we still haven’t figured how to move traffic along.

A question that becomes even more pivotal this summer with gas prices shooting through the stratosphere.

The first day I didn’t even see any workers. The second day there were a few sitting in trucks as they readied to tear up the west side of the road.

The line at noon on Thursday still stretched south of the Meadows Trailer Park, although that was an improvement on the morning when it stretched to East Fork Road.

I was told that there was a malfunction with the Elkhorn light, which was favoring motorists turning onto the highway from Elkhorn Road. But there were no police officers or flaggers around to direct traffic.

As I sat, I found myself envying a smart young man bicycling up the bike path with his skis on his back.

And it struck me: I could drive to Twin Falls quicker than I could drive the three miles to Ketchum. But, I guess, Twin doesn’t have skiing.

Was it worth it?

Well, I did make some first tracks in lovely powder on Thursday, even though I was an hour late getting to the ski resort. I guess everybody else was stuck in traffic, too.

And Friday? Well, I could have skied all day.

But with the end of ski season I think I will be joining all the Mamas and Papas who ferried their youngsters…and even dogs…to Ketchum every day. Because, even if things go smoothly one day, you never know when they are not going to go smoothly.