ITD chipping away at Icicle Cliffs
<p>A motorist travels along the Icicle Cliffs section of Highway 200 just east of Clark Fork. (Photo by KEITH KINNAIRD)</p>
CLARK FORK — Motorists traveling on Highway 200 east of Clark Fork can expect intermittent delays in June due to work to stabilize Icicle Cliffs and improve drainage.
The maintenance work is slated to take most of the month and will at times restrict the narrow stretch of highway to a single lane. During the day, a flagger will help guide traffic. At night, a wireless traffic signal system will be used to get traffic through the work zone safely.
Law enforcement and EMS vehicles will be given priority passage through the work zone in cases of emergency.
Shannon Thornton, ITD’s maintenance forewoman for Bonner County, said the work cannot be conducted at night due to the narrowness of the highway and a lack of shoulders.
An excavator fitted with a rock hammer will be used to break off unstable portions of the cliffs. The steep cliffs are composed of argillite, a fine-grained sedimentary rock containing clay particles.
The cliffs are part of the Belt Supergroup and are a roadside attraction for those interested in Lake Missoula, a prehistoric lake that existed at the end of the last ice age.
The winding and undulating stretch of highway is also known for nasty motor vehicle crashes.
“The (true) fix there is a realignment,” Thornton said.
However, a shortage of highway funding has thwarted such a project.
Thornton said District 1 was able to secure $155,000 to stabilize the cliffs and more effectively channel water that seeps from them.
“The idea is to make it go as far as we can,” Thornton said of the funding.
The speed limit through the work zone will drop to 35 mph and oversize tractor-trailers will likely not be allowed through the work zone, said Thornton.
Traffic delays are forecasted to last at least 15 minutes.