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Teton County is putting the finishing touches on plans to revamp Wilson. The project — including a few short stretches of pathway on either side of Highway 22 and a flashing light crosswalk — aims to protect pedestrians while keeping traffic flow and town character intact.
Doing so, however, will come with a hefty price tag.
At a Monday county workshop, Brian Schilling — the county’s pathways and trail coordinator — said the whole project will cost the county at least $4.6 million dollars.
That includes the cost of 18 temporary construction easements, plus a permanent easement at Hungry Jack’s grocery. The easements alone will cost about $450,000, which Schilling said is “a major project cost.”
Right now, the county is working on making offers to all the property owners for the right to work on their land. Landowners can offer to donate their land, though it’s not a popular option.
“They can either accept or reject those offers and then depending on what the response is, we move on from there,” Schilling said during a county workshop on Monday. “As part of that offer process, it involves providing fair and just compensation to the property owners.”
Property owners will then have three months to respond to the offers.
The county is hoping to finish the project bid by 2025 so construction can get underway. Schilling, however, said it’s likely that it will take two construction seasons to finish all the work.
