Spring Breakup Thaw Means Much Of Bonner County Is Bogged Down

The phones at the Bonner County Road Department won’t stop ringing. And the callers are none too polite, cussing and threatening supervisor Red Riebe.

It’s spring breakup in most of Bonner County. That means roads - even paved ones - are thawing into treacherous mud pits.

“This is not a pretty picture,” Riebe said. “I can’t even get to some of the sites to evaluate them.”

The county took a drastic measure Monday. To keep roads from deteriorating more, commissioners declared an emergency and banned almost all commercial hauling on county roads. The restrictions are expected to last all week.

“We need to keep as much traffic off the roads as we can. We don’t want people stuck and tearing them up any more than they already are,” said Commissioner Dale Van Stone. “We always get a few gooey spots each year, but nothing like this.”

Commercial vehicles will be allowed on roads only in case of an emergency, such as supplying heating oil and propane to residents. Some cattle feed and milk trucks also will be exempt. If local dairy farms can’t get a milk truck in every other day, the milk spoils and must be dumped.

Jack Hickey helps run a dairy farm with his son on Hickey Road, which is nearly blocked by a deep mud pit.

“The other day, the milk truck got stuck and it took two tractors to pull him out,” said Hickey, 72. “It usually gets bad, but not like this.”

Many of the roads are accessible only by four-wheel-drive.

“It’s just all mud up here. There are a lot of people getting stuck. Our neighbors walk in and out because their own driveway is so bad,” said Mickie Jacobson. She lives north of Sandpoint on Upper Gold Creek Road.

She said residents often shove a stick in a mud hole so drivers know not to go through it.

“If you see a big stick, it’s probably not a good place to drive,” she laughed. “The bigger the twig, the deeper the hole.”

Even garbage trucks and buses are being restricted to main paved roads. School district buses have abandoned routes on about 32 roads. Students either walk or get a ride to the nearest accessible bus stop, said transportation director Brad Littlefield.

“When the roads are bad we get off them because it only makes them worse,” he said. “When we go through the mud we break things on the buses and the kids get banged around.”

Littlefield has fielded his share of complaints. One woman argued her car wouldn’t make it through a muddied road, but insisted the bus could with its high clearance. Another patron worried her granddaughter’s perfect attendance record would be marred if the bus didn’t make it up the road.

“It’s getting a little bit hairy out there right now. We don’t go anywhere unless we have to,” said David Fryman. He lives off Wrenco Loop Road west of Sandpoint. “The only thing you can do is wait for it to dry up.”

The road department is dumping tons of rock onto main roads to make at least one lane passable. Several roads have been closed altogether.

That doesn’t make residents very happy. About 40 “Road Closed” signs have been stolen. Thieves snatched another 48 orange cones, used to mark washouts and holes.

“We can’t keep up with it,” Riebe said. “We are out of signs and had to reorder them.” The thefts cost the county more than $2,000.

Sheriff’s deputies will be patrolling roads this week, looking for any illegal haulers.

“The road conditions are so bad that we need to take drastic measures,” Riebe said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ACTION Commissioners declared an emergency and banned almost all commercial hauling on county roads. Restrictions may last all week.