New Opposition to Bruce Willis’s Planned Idaho Airport

There are a lot of people who like Camas County and don’t want to see a drastic change.  They like the slower pace of life, lack of opportunities for their kids, and a tiny tax base.  As many of you know, the actor Bruce Willis has been attempting for years to construct a small private airport that could help alleviate air traffic in and out of neighboring Blaine County.  Willis may be suffering from an illness but remains a shrewd businessman.

It Could be Good for the Economy

The airport would provide jobs and some would pay quite well for the immediate area.

Now a group long opposed to the idea has come forward with a claim that a county road passes through the proposed site and negates any construction.  They’re talking about a rutted path that can accommodate two tracks.  They presented their argument to the Camas County Commission.

I posed a question about the road to a counterpart in another county.  Twin Falls County Commissioner Jack Johnson explained it would depend on who maintains the so-called road.  If there’s no evidence of any county involvement, then the opposition may have fired their last shot and missed the target.

Tourists Need More Options

For newcomers to Idaho, in the old days, Amtrak stopped in Shoshone, Idaho, south of the resorts in Ketchum and Sun Valley.  Tourists and part-time residents would then need to find someone to drive them north.  Then Amtrak was re-routed to the north.  That’s where the airports in Hailey, Jerome, and Twin Falls came into the picture.  Still, the latter two are an even more distant drive to the resorts.  Willis proposed the new airport as a means of providing a closer landing and it would take some pressure off Hailey.  It also offers some privacy to some people who would like to keep a low profile.