State Highway 31 gets emergency help to reopen

The state Transportation Department has hired a Seattle contractor to repair landslide damage near Metaline in Pend Oreille County.

State Highway 31 was closed just south of Metaline on March 18 due to a landslide and the risk of more slides from an unstable clay slope.

The highway is one of the main routes connecting Spokane and the Inland Northwest with southeastern British Columbia.

It also serves the communities of Ione on the south side of the closure with Metaline and Metaline Falls to the north.

A detour route on Sullivan Lake Road is now handling traffic, although that route has weight restrictions limiting heavy vehicles.

Scarsella Bros., of Seattle, was hired for the job of clearing the slide.

The company will move heavy equipment to the area, including a 90-foot crane that will remove unstable clay and debris at the top of a hill next to the highway.

The debris will be dropped onto the roadway and then hauled off.

The slope is considered too unstable to have workers go up onto it, according to a news release from the state Department of Transportation.

“Melting snowpack and record rainfall saturated a high bank of clay soil above SR 31, causing a slide with mud and trees falling onto the highway,” the news release said.

DOT closed the highway for motorist safety.

The state said there is no timetable for reopening.

The heavy precipitation in recent months also caused closure of state Highway 395 just northwest of Colville where creek water flooded onto the roadway. A detour is available there.

In Idaho, crews started work on Thursday to repair Idaho state Highway 3 at Black Lake.

The area is located at the chain lakes of the Coeur d’Alene River flood plain on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

The saturated road bed was slipping about an inch per day, the agency said.

State officials said they plan to remove pavement and rebuild the roadbed over a distance of 100 feet.

One lane of traffic is being allowed through the area and the speed limit is reduced to 25 mph.

Last week, Idaho crews paved a 500-foot temporary route around a slide area on state Highway 5 west of St. Maries.

In addition to the state highway damage, a county road providing access to the Porcupine Bay campground on the Spokane Arm of Lake Roosevelt was closed by a massive landslide above the lake shore. There were no immediate plans for a detour or repairs.

Forecasters said another heavy rainfall on Friday could aggravate problems of flooding and landslides. Motorists are urged to use caution.