Slide-outs, repairs in Hope, Clark Fork areas

A few roads around the Clark Fork and Hope areas are getting facelifts after excessive water levels caused them to droop and eventually wash out altogether.

After a day where traffic on Highway 200 near Hope was limited to one lane due to a small landslide, all lanes of the roadway are back open, Idaho Transportation Department officials said Wednesday.

The landslide was weather-related, Heather McDaniel, ITD public information officer, said.

"With the large accumulation of snow, followed closely with a pretty dramatic rise in temperatures over the past weeks, it has created an unusual amount of runoff and a backlog of water through the ditching and culvert system through that area," she said.

The excess water found its way under the roadway, eroding an area of the embankment and shoulder, causing the landslide, McDaniel said.

The landslide forced the transportation department to close a lane of Highway 200 near milepost 40 east of Hope. Flaggers were on site to shepherd cars through the area while crews worked to repair the damage from the small slide, which happened Tuesday morning.

Crews worked "well into the dark" Tuesday obtaining and placing the needed materials to rebuild and reinforce the road base and shoulder, McDaniel said.

Crews wrapped up work Wednesday, finishing the base and patching the asphalt.

McDaniel said transportation department crews were aiming to get both lanes of traffic back open Wednesday evening, "depending on how quickly the material sets up."

In the warm weather months, McDaniels said ITD's operations crews spend a lot of time and resources maintaining ditching and culverts adjacent to its roadways to help prevent such erosion.

"But in this case, there was simply too much water all at once for the system to handle," she said.

Another slide-out happened on East Spring Creek Road, just west of Clark Fork with the erosion happening earlier this month, Bonner County Road and Bridge Director Jason Topp said. The board of commissioners voted Jan. 8 to declare an emergency for repairs in the area.

“The rising water level of Lightning Creek caused the downhill shoulder of the road to slide and undermine the East Spring Creek Road in two places at approximately the .25-mile area,” Topp said.

While construction was supposed to begin earlier this month, the recent cold front that moved through the area halted all work until the beginning of this week. The other lane of the road will remain open throughout the construction to allow traffic through, and Topp advised drivers to expect short delays if they are going through the area.

Both sections of repairs are expected to be completed by the end of the next week, the director said.

Not all of the damaged roads in the area could be attended to so quickly, however. The portion of Lightning Creek Road that washed out at the beginning of December will have to wait until summer for crews to fix the issue.

A portion of the road a few miles past the county jurisdiction flooded due to heavy rains Dec. 8. Two portions of the road around milepost 8 and milepost 10 were damaged, but not enough for traffic to be diverted completely.

“[The road] was promptly reopened again on Dec. 15 once the flooding stopped,” said Idaho Forest Service public affairs officer Patrick Lair. “The Forest Service plans on doing some resurfacing and culvert repair this summer, but the route is open for now and in use as a groomed snowmobile route for the winter.”

While the road is still open to vehicles, Lair said it is not plowed in the winter and is only groomed as a snowmobile track.