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Hello potholes, my old friends

by CHANSE WATSON
Hagadone News Network | January 25, 2022 6:00 AM

With the recent rise in temperatures melting off much of the ice that has caked North Idaho roadways, the Idaho Transportation Department is now tackling another one of its many winter hazards- potholes.

ITD Public Information Officer Megan Jahns said that crews have two small stretches of westbound Interstate 90 reduced to a single lane due to deteriorating conditions and potholes.

“We have two trouble spots right now,” Jahns said. “Our crews, day and night shift both, have been patching between every storm and every blowout. The weather conditions make it such that, right now, we need to keep those portions of the lanes shut down so it is not a hazard to drivers.”

Located at mileposts 33 (just west of the Rose Lake exit) and 48 (Smelterville), the suspension-killing parts of the roadway continued to grow in the last month and Band-Aid fixes just weren’t cutting it.

During this early part of winter, ITD only has the capability of making short-term fixes with a cold-patch mix. Even in the best conditions, cold-patch is only a temporary solution. When the older age of those parts of I-90 is factored in as well, it becomes even less effective.

“When you put the patch in, it is partially staying in because of the quality of the road around the patch. In this case, it’s falling apart, so there is nothing really to hold it together,” Jahns said. “That part can get missed by drivers. They can be like, ‘man, this pothole is here, back again!’ We know it’s going to do that, it’s unfortunately a maintenance headache that we have to get through to summer and better weather conditions where we can use hot mix to repair.”

As for more long-term solutions, multiple factors come into play that ITD doesn’t have much control over.

“The process to get it completely fixed is to work with an asphalt plant, the closest one being out of Hayden,” Jahns explained. “We then have to pay them money to start operations again, because their plants shut down for the winter season because there is no construction, and then find a contractor who will give us an estimate on how much the repairs are going to cost.”

This process could begin within the next couple weeks, but a timetable for a complete fix is unknown.

photo

Photo courtesy of IDAHO TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT

Idaho State Police respond to the I-90 closure at milepost 33 on Jan. 16 after a vehicle crossed into the work zone and crashed into a loader that was being used to fill potholes.