Nearly two weeks after a massive fault forced its closure, Dobson Pass remains closed from the top of the pass to Carbon Center Road at the bottom of the hill, with no resolution in sight.

County officials met on Thursday to discuss possible resolutions for the road, which forced Shoshone County to issue a state disaster declaration on April 1, one day after the fault shifted the road. The county will receive no aid from the federal government to help repair the damages.

Officials have been monitoring the scene closely since the failure, and will continue to evaluate the road until the weather dries up and allows them to safely start surveying their options.

"During the disaster no one was hurt, and it's important that we maintain the safety of that site," Jim Roletto, of the Idaho Transportation Department said. "We won't be on that location until we know it's safe for repair work. We've had people out there, doing the monitoring, and we've been getting ideas about what the site is like and what type of failure we have. We're big into discovery before we are eager to get on something and take a risk. We can't emphasize safety enough."

The damage done to Dobson Pass this year is even more catastrophic than the fault last summer that caused a partial-closure for several months. With the ground still frozen on the pass, engineers were only able to make their initial inspection on Monday, and it may still be several months until any construction can begin in earnest, as officials wait for the ground to thaw and dry.

"Any type of repair is going to require heavy equipment, and having it on an unstable area would be risky. Until we know it's stable, and can approach it to repair it, we can't even put together a plan," County Commissioner Jon Cantamessa said.

Public Works Director John Thomas agreed, saying that it is going to be a long process to get the road fully up and running. He points to the timetable of last year's repairs on Dobson Pass - when the road failed at the beginning of April and wasn't fully repaired until mid-August.

"We've been very active, and busy monitoring every day, but we aren't going to be able to put it back to a road immediately," he said. "The repairs last year were done in August when it dried out enough to get up there. It was just one lane last year, but it's two this year. It's nearly doubled in size. We have a ton of investigating to do - it's one of our highest priorities in the county right now."

Roletto added that the safety of the public, the workers and officials was paramount.

"It's important to know that we're monitoring what's going on out there, and, like John Thomas said, we're strategizing so we're ready," he said. "We're not just sitting around waiting for the snow to go away, we're monitoring and when we can, we're going to hit the ground running."

At the meeting, Shoshone County Undersheriff Rod Plank also remarked that because of the closure at Dobson Pass, response times to the Prichard / Murray area may be delayed. Because they have their own ambulance and volunteer fire company, residents shouldn't suffer too much from the closed pass.

"It's possible that response times could be a little longer than normal, but we still will be able to respond up there in a reasonable amount of time to keep the public safe," he said.

If you would like to check on the status of any county roads, go to www.shoshonecounty.org under the Public Works Department. All road closures will then be under "Shoshone County Road Status Report."