Neighbors concerned about uncovered ditch in Ammon community
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AMMON — It’s been a loud, dirty summer. At least that’s what some neighbors in an Ammon community have been saying.
“This doesn’t make a very good presentation of our town, but it’s what it is,” resident JoAnne Summers says.
The road construction on Midway Avenue was supposed to be completed the first week of August, but it’s still going.
And it isn’t just the speed of the project neighbors are worried about – it’s the exposed nearby ditch.
“We’ve gone from one hazard with the kids having to ride their bikes and everything in the street to another hazard with having sidewalks right up to the ditch,” Summers says.
Neighbors say they’ve received various answers as to whether or not the ditch will be filled on Midway.
On the east side of Midway, the ditch has been covered and a pipe has been installed. On the west side of Midway, the ditch is stilled filled with water.
“The city’s initial design, almost a year and a half ago, was always to avoid the ditch covering up,” City engineer Tracy Bono says.
The city says it will cost $100,000 to cover the ditch and there haven’t been accidents involving the ditch before, so it will remain open.
“The city looked at cost savings over safety. The water was only running seven days on and about two weeks off, so it’s not like there was a lot of water in there the whole time. So the city just made an evaluation of it and decided that the cost savings was worth not covering up the ditch,” Bono says.
Neighbors say they understand the city’s position but they don’t agree with it and hope nobody gets hurt.
“I think the finished product will be wonderful. We’re just hopeful that it happens sometime soon,” Summers says.