Thursday rock slide spills onto westbound I-90
Chanse Watson Hagadone News Network | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 4 months AGO
Motorists heading west over Fourth of July Pass Thursday morning were greeted by a large amount of rubble piled up in the road as they made their way toward Coeur d’Alene.
The Idaho Transportation Department reports that due a combination of warmer temperatures and melting snow, part of the hillside, roughly two miles east of the top of Fourth of July Pass, collapsed under its own weight and spilled onto westbound Interstate 90.
The debris completely blocked the right lane closest to the hill and partially covered the left lane closer to the median.
Megan Sausser, ITD spokeswoman, said slides are occurring throughout the state.
“Typically, it’s due to an extreme freeze-thaw cycle,” she said. “You freeze up and get precipitation like snow that sits on the slopes, then we warm up and everything is thawing, it becomes heavy, and goes downhill which causes rock falls and hill slides.”
Crews with ITD and Idaho State Police troopers responded to the area not long after it was reported.
Sausser said, when a situation like this occurs, ITD first blocks off the area and makes sure no one was caught in the rock slide. Then, they reassess the conditions of the roadway and the involved slope. If conditions are deemed safe, any debris blocking the roadway is removed and another assessment is conducted to find a permanent fix for both the road and hillside, if needed.
As of Thursday afternoon, no injuries had been reported as a result of the incident.
Sausser expects that both westbound lanes could be cleared by Saturday or Sunday at the latest.
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Thursday rock slide spills onto westbound I-90
Motorists heading west over Fourth of July Pass Thursday morning were greeted by a large amount of rubble piled up in the road as they made their way toward Coeur d’Alene.