Weather impedes Idaho 3 repairs

ROSE LAKE - Idaho Highway 3 re-opened about 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, one week after an old culvert collapsed at milepost 113.8 outside Rose Lake.

Due to warmer-than-normal temperatures and heavy runoff, Rose Creek flooded on Dec. 28. The culvert - installed in 1935 - gave way, half the road washed out and Idaho 3 was closed for seven days.

"And during that time the contractors literally worked around the clock to get that culvert replaced and the roadway repaired," said Barbara Babic, an Idaho Transportation Department public information spokeswoman.

ITD contracted with Peck & Peck Excavating, Inc., based in Post Falls. Workers dug out a flood-control channel, diverted Rose Creek and removed the busted culvert.

"It had rotted and collapsed," explained ITD Transportation Staff Engineer Assistant Bill Kaufman.

In cold and snowy conditions, crews put in 80 feet of corrugated steel culvert, Kaufman said. Then they built up the bank and re-routed the creek.

"We had some difficulty with the weather," Kaufman said.

The road was covered with reground asphalt, a stopgap until the highway is fully paved sometime next spring or summer. Winter weather makes paving impossible this time of year, Babic said.

"It'll be rough; it'll have potholes in it," Kaufman said of the culvert area, but "(reground) has performed quite well for us in similar situations."

ITD will maintain the road's surface, he added. For safety, signs were posted on Tuesday reducing the speed limit from 55 to 25 mph.

With the highway closed last week, many travelers were forced to find detours. Bound for St. Maries or beyond, commercial trucks were re-routed to U.S. 95, a considerable distance. Other motorists plied the many curves of Idaho 97, which runs along the eastern shoreline of Lake Coeur d'Alene before arriving in Harrison.

"I've got friends and relatives that are stranded," said Mardy Fisher of Tamarack Ridge (near Rose Lake), who was sitting at the Conoco station on Idaho 3 about 30 minutes before the road re-opened Tuesday.

"Just a nuisance, sure," he added. "You could still get to Coeur d'Alene, but ..."

At the wheel of a Rent-a-Center truck, Kyle Leonard planned on driving Idaho 3 down to St. Maries, where he would drop off a few televisions. But the road was still closed, and he had a choice to make: head over Fourth of July Pass to highways 97 or 95, or wait it out.

Either way, his day was about to get longer.

"My boss isn't gonna be too happy about that," Leonard said.

Bobbie Gibson works at the Rose Lake General Store, a stone's throw from the Interstate 90 and Idaho 3 junction. She had been chatting with crewmen and flaggers during the closure, sometimes bringing them hot chocolate.

"We get a lot of phone calls," Gibson said early Tuesday. "I'm just telling them to be patient, they're working as hard as they can to get it fixed. We get a lot of people coming in here asking when it's gonna be open."

One acquaintance, Gibson said, had to drive 61 miles out of his way. There was a secondary road that residents could use to bypass the construction site, she added, but it was tough going.

"My husband used it a couple times to take our kid fishing," she said.

Gibson was hoping the road would open soon (and it did).

"Hopefully it'll get more business in," she said. "It's been really slow. It was a large hole (in the highway), I can tell you that."

Rose Lake, Rose Creek and the Coeur d'Alene River are part of the Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site. When a road project occurs within the site, ITD works with the EPA and other state agencies, and follows certain environmental protocols. For example, construction debris was transported to one of two local repositories.

"Actually, it was a lot easier to deal with because it was a Superfund site," Babic said. "What makes it so easy is that whole process is already in place."

Generally, Superfund projects won't take any longer to complete than a conventional project, she said. Wintry conditions were the major hurdles on Idaho 3.

"One of our biggest challenges was the weather," Babic said. "The snow and the sub-zero temperatures. That can add time and cost to it."

She said ITD will not know the total cost of the project until next week.