S 5th St & Johnson Ave Improvement Project

S 5th St & Johnson Ave Improvement Project

Update from 12/16/2025 City Council Work Session - LID Abandoned

At its work session on 12/16/2025, the Driggs City Council provided unanimous input to City staff to not move forward with a local improvement district as part of the funding for the S 5th Street and Johnson Avenue Improvements project. City Council is expected to formalize abandonment of the local improvement district (LID 2025-1) through adoption of a resolution to appeal Resolution 429-25 at the January 6th City Council meeting.

With the funding plan change, the project schedule is expected to change to:

• 2026 Spring - Completion of Final Design & Estimate
• 2026 Summer - Approval of Alternative Funding Plan
• 2027 Spring - Advertisement for Construction Bids
• 2027 Summer - Construction

Background

The S 5th Street & Johnson Avenue Improvements project is the top priority project in the 2025 Transportation Master Plan, which includes the following project description:

Project Description: S 5th Street and Johnson Avenue are currently gravel roads within City limits. The purpose of this project is to establish a paved collector route to City standards. Based on traffic modeling, this project is a top priority to alleviate traffic on SH-33 (Main Street). The project assumes installation of two 11-ft travel lanes, a 10-ft bike path (per Pedestrian Project No. 2), 6-ft sidewalk, and 6-ft buffers per the City’s Collector Residential cross-section. Speed management will be investigated and incorporated as part of the project’s design.

Justification: Gravel roadway not to City standards; brings SH-33 intersections 2045 LOS from F to C/D when combined with Traffic and Safety Projects 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 10; alternative route for traffic heading to Ski Hill Road, schools, and Cemetery Road.

Potential Funding: Impact Fees, Resort Tax, State & Federal Grants (LRHIP, TAP), Urban Renewal Agency (for portion within the URA district).

Preliminary Design

A Project Open House was held at City Hall on Monday, November 3, 2025, from 5pm to 7pm. The Project Engineer, Keller Associates, presented the project’s preliminary design, including options for traffic calming.

• Design Graphics for Nov. 3rd Open House , including Project Extent, Street Cross-sections, and Traffic Calming Options (See also, an updated 11/20 Traffic Calming Technical Memo )
• Preliminary Design Drawings Note that this is a first draft from the Project Engineer. Staff has requested a number of revisions, including changes to the alignment of road, sidewalk and pathway.
• Preliminary Cost Estimate: including 20% contingency = $3,500,000. The goal will be to get this down around or below $3M. Cost saving measures such as re-using much of the existing road's gravel material are being pursued, which will bring the cost down significantly.

75% Design

Keller Associates will revise the design, cost estimate and LID details based on the Dec. 16th City Council work session, and deliver the 75% design packet around January 16th. The 75% design packet will be posted here, and a link will be sent out to the email list and by mail to all adjacent property owners so that property owners may again comment on the proposed design.