Bypass road around Highway 95 rockslide could open Monday

Idaho Transportation Department officials announced plans to reopen a temporary bypass road on U.S. Highway 95 at the base of a massive rockslide as early as Monday.

Road crews have drilled and blasted some of the biggest boulders that have kept the temporary road closed since July 10.

The main highway at milepost 188 has been blocked since July 3 when a rockslide crashed onto the roadway. Subsequent rockfall has interrupted the recovery effort, but officials have said no further rock movement has been detected since last week.

Jared Hopkins, operations engineer for the recovery project, said now that the boulders are of manageable size, crews will focus on clearing the detour around the base of the slide while continuing to monitor the stability of the slope.

“We are still determining what the highway will look like when it reopens, but drivers should be prepared for flaggers and reduced lanes and hours,” Hopkins said.

The final repairs to mitigate the slope failure are scheduled to be awarded to a contractor Thursday. The contractor will be asked to begin work within 48 hours, according to a news release from the transportation department.

In the meantime, traffic is being detoured over the Old Pollock Road that runs parallel to the highway on the opposite side of the Little Salmon River. That road will be monitored and maintained for possible use as a detour in the future.