Word on the Street

The Mayor's Missive
April 12, 2024

DRAFT PARKING PLAN FOR COMMUNITY CONSIDERATION

The revised draft Parking Management Plan will be presented to the community for consideration next week. This is a working document, meant to be adopted alongside the Comprehensive Plan that is to be completed by the end of the year. Items to explore as part of the final parking plan include the creation of additional customer parking and drop-off zones, designated all-day workforce parking, and a potential parking garage. Until then, the city will pursue a few strategic parking changes this year. These include the already converted Washington Avenue lot to free, long-term parking during Main Street construction and potentially converting some long-term, on-street parking near the Washington Avenue lot to short-term (less than two hour) parking.

PRELIMINARY MAIN STREET UTILITY WORK IS UNDERWAY WITH THE FULL PROJECT SET TO BEGIN SOON

We did not receive any formal bids for the reconstruction of Main Street, so we entered negotiations with a qualified interested contractor last month. Final phasing and details are being worked out now and we hope to share complete project information soon. All of this is subject to Council and KURA final approval of potential project costs, of which a minimum of $7 million will be funded by ITD. If approved, we will host another community meeting later this month to share updates to the construction schedule and plans. In the meantime, work is progressing well with the relocation of the waterline which will be followed by the installation of the new redundant powerline by Idaho Power. Construction to complete the full project scope on Main Street will begin once utility work is complete.

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TRAFFIC CALMING TEST IN THE WORKS

We are proposing a test of more traffic calming measures in West Ketchum this year. Last year, we tested roadway constrictions in the area to slow down traffic. Now, we will be trying out temporary speed bumps. If they are well received, they could be deployed in other areas of the city. Please let us know what you think of them.

Still time for a few more turns on Baldy!

Cheers,
Neil

To read the rest of Issue No. 149 of the Word on the Street, click here.