PLUMMER — Fixing Highway 5 has proven to be a rough road.

Saturated soil has caused the highway to continue to slide for the past week and a half and shut it down about 6 miles east of Plummer.

The clay under the highway is saturated about 11 feet deep, creating an earthquake-like scene with broken asphalt.

Mike Lenz of the Idaho Transportation Department said the hope is to have a temporary single lane constructed by Thursday — more than two weeks after the highway was closed — with lights allowing vehicles to pass through in one direction at a time.

Lenz didn't even want to venture a guess about when the highway will be completely repaired.

"We want to get this shoo fly (temporary lane) in, then the overall fix needs to be engineered up," he said.

Jack Buell Trucking was contracted to perform the excavation work, which started on Wednesday.

Lenz said the half-mile stretch of the highway was moving about 2 feet a day for the first four or five days before slowing down to a few inches per day.

"It quit sliding so much as the material was removed," he said, adding that roughly 2,000 yards of material was hauled off Wednesday and Thursday.

ITD estimates 2,200 vehicles travel on Highway 5 between Plummer and St. Maries each day.

Lenz said a cost estimate for the emergency repairs hasn't been determined.

"There's federal emergency funds in place for situations like this," he said. "That's the route we're trying to take."

Residents who live along Highway 5 are still allowed to use the road except along the stretch that's shut down. Commercial traffic, meanwhile, is being diverted at Plummer and St. Maries and using Highways 3 and 6 as alternate routes.

- Meanwhile, U.S. 95 about 6 miles south of Bonners Ferry will continue to be restricted to one lane through the weekend due to constant slides, Lenz said. More than 2,000 yards of material have been removed from the site.