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Rockslide near 4th of July Pass expected to delay traffic for at least three days

Idaho Department of Transportation officials said the rock slide was 12 miles west of Pinehurst, Idaho.

PINEHURST, Idaho—One westbound lane of Interstate 90 near Fourth of July Pass is still closed Thursday due to a rockslide.

Idaho Transportation Department officials said the rockslide happened just before 11:00 a.m. about 12 miles west of Pinehurst, Idaho. They said they do not expect any more rock to fall onto the roadway while they are cleaning up. Officials said they expect traffic delays for at least three days.

Transportation leaders said a fracture inside a rock cliff sent the debris sliding down the mountain.

"Now the effort is to clean the rest of the material out. It's mostly large rock rather than mud and soil material," IDT Operations Engineer Jerry Wilson said.

Within an hour of the landslide, Wilson had crews clearing big pieces of rock off the highway. Only one west bound lane is open and it will remain that way for the next couple of days. Wilson said a landslide of this severity is rare for these mountains.

"It's very dependent on weather conditions, the freeze thaw, how much moisture we get and how quickly we get it," Wilson explained.

He said there will be short periods of time when both lanes will be closed for clearing.

"We are just going to back the trucks in, use an excavator, load the trucks up and have them pull forward into the one closed lane so it should be very minimal if at all that we need to close that second lane," Wilson said.

Wilson said most of the damage is already done and it is safe for drivers to drive along the I-90.

ITD authorities said there were no injuries reported.

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