The light came back on at Elkhorn Road the evening of Wednesday, August 5, two days ahead of schedule. If you drive that stretch of Highway 75 near Sun Valley, you probably noticed before you read about it: the intersection that had been dark and flagger-controlled since mid-July suddenly had a working signal again, and traffic that had been squeezed onto one lane in each direction was moving onto a brand-new section of pavement on the east side of the highway.
Most people I've talked to in the past few weeks have read that as the project wrapping up. It isn't. What actually happened is more useful to understand than a simple "it's almost over," because Highway 75 through Blaine County has quietly become two different construction projects running on two different clocks, and which one affects your daily drive depends entirely on which stretch of the highway you're on.
What Actually Reopened on August 5
The closure that just ended was narrow and specific. The Idaho Transportation Department shut down roughly 750 feet of Elkhorn Road, from near Boulder Court west to the highway, starting July 13. The purpose was to let crews build the east half of the four-way intersection where Elkhorn Road, River Ranch Road and Highway 75 all meet, work that the City of Sun Valley approved knowing it would mean a 26-day detour through Ketchum for anyone who normally cuts through that corner.
ITD finished that phase two days early. Traffic has now shifted onto the completed east side while crews start on the west half of the same intersection, and the signal is running again. According to ITD's own release, this pattern, one lane open in each direction through the work zone with the light active, is expected to hold through late 2026. That's not "done." That's "phase one of two is done."
The Corridor Now Runs on Two Different Clocks
Here's the part that matters if you're trying to figure out whether your specific commute gets better this year or stays rough into next year.
Back in November 2025, ITD paused most of the season's paving and described the corridor's shape at that point: four lanes of traffic from the start of the project down near the south end, all the way up to just before Serenade Lane, and one lane in each direction from Serenade to River Street in Ketchum. That's the split. The southern stretch has been substantially built out for a while. The northern stretch, the last mile or so heading into town, has stayed a bottleneck.
Then in April 2026, Ketchum City Council got a more specific version of that same split. ITD Lead Inspector Justin Schoolcraft told the council that all Highway 75 construction outside of two intersections, Serenade Lane and Elkhorn Road, was still on track to finish in 2026. Those two intersections specifically, he said, might not be done until the 2027 construction season. Everything else was the easy half. Those two intersections are the hard half.
So if your daily drive is south of Serenade, the highway you're driving on right now is close to its finished form. If your drive takes you through the Serenade Lane intersection or the Elkhorn Road intersection, you're on the half of the project that's running a full year behind the rest.
| Segment | Status as of late summer 2026 | Expected timeline |
|---|---|---|
| South end to just before Serenade Lane | Widened to four lanes, largely complete | 2026 |
| Serenade Lane intersection | New signal under construction | Could slip to 2027 |
| Elkhorn Road / River Ranch Road intersection | East half open, west half under construction | Could slip to 2027 |
| Serenade Lane to River Street (Ketchum) | One lane each direction | Rest of 2026 into 2027 |
Why the Two Intersections Keep Slipping
The delay isn't really about the roadwork itself. It's about what has to happen before crews can even start.
Schoolcraft told the council that utility relocation has been the persistent snag. One utility company told ITD it would take 20 days to move its lines out of the way. It took almost 90. "That was last summer," he said, meaning the delay compounded into this year's schedule before this year's work even began. A spokeswoman for Cox pushed back on the idea that her company was part of the problem, saying Cox has met all agreed timelines and that its work hasn't contributed to any delays. Lumen didn't respond to questions about it. Ketchum City Administrator Jade Riley summed up ITD's actual challenge in one line: the hard part was never the paving, it was corralling the utility companies.
That's a useful thing to know if you're the kind of resident who assumes a road project is simple math: crews show up, crews finish, done. This one has an extra layer of coordination between ITD, contractor Knife River and multiple utility companies, and that layer is exactly where the schedule keeps slipping.
What Residents Are Actually Saying
The frustration isn't abstract. At that same April council meeting, Vince Burgess, an East Fork resident, told the council he now drives up to Ketchum about 30 percent as often as he used to.
"As a relatively new resident, it's kind of heartbreaking. I know people, a lot of people, who have moved away because of this."
Marta Litwin, a Hailey resident, offered a specific fix rather than just a complaint: traffic control, meaning workers physically stationed at intersections to keep cars moving, at more locations than just Elkhorn. Schoolcraft's response was that Knife River's contract doesn't include night work, which rules out one of the more obvious ways to compress the schedule.
None of that changes the road. It does tell you that the fatigue isn't just yours. If you've cut back on trips into Ketchum this year, or timed your errands around the work zone hours (crews generally operate 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday), you're doing exactly what your neighbors have been doing.
What This Actually Means for Your Fall
If your commute runs between Bellevue or Hailey and points north, you're likely driving through the finished four-lane stretch for most of your trip, then hitting the same one-lane squeeze from Serenade into Ketchum that's been there for months. That part isn't new and isn't going away this year.
If your drive touches the Elkhorn Road intersection near Sun Valley, you just got a small win. The east side reopened early and the light is back on, but the west half of that intersection is now the active work zone, so budget for continued flagging and lane shifts there through the rest of 2026.
If you use the bike path alongside the highway, ITD has said it's made efforts to keep it open during phased closures, though check current conditions before you plan a ride through the Elkhorn area specifically, since that's still an active zone.
The bigger picture: ITD has put this stretch of Highway 75 at roughly 25,000 vehicles a day, with volume projected to approach 40,000 by 2047. The whole point of the widening, the new turn lanes, the Trail Creek Bridge rebuild, the new signal at Serenade, is to build for that growth before it arrives, not just to fix today's backups. That's cold comfort on a Tuesday afternoon stuck at Elkhorn, but it's the actual reason this project has been sized the way it has.
The Honest Timeline
Most of Highway 75 through the valley is functionally finished for 2026. Two intersections, Serenade Lane and Elkhorn Road, are the exceptions, and ITD's own team has said those specifically could carry into the 2027 construction season. If you want a single number to hold onto, it's not "the project ends in 2026" or "the project ends in 2027." It's that the project already ended for most of the corridor, and what's left is concentrated in two places you can name and plan around.
If you're new to the valley, or you're the kind of local who tracks this stuff so you can tell out-of-town guests what to expect, that's the version worth knowing: not that the highway is under construction, but exactly which two intersections still are.
For more on what life actually looks like day to day across Blaine County, from trail systems to the towns this highway connects, our Blaine County neighborhood guide is a good place to keep exploring. And if you'd rather have valley updates like this land in your inbox instead of tracking city council minutes yourself, Corey on the Go will keep you posted. Be the First to See New Listings.
