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Floods May Wash Out Summer Fun Damage To Dozens Of Forest Service Roads Will Impede Recreation

By Craig Welch craigw@olywa.net

Dozens of Forest Service roads in central Idaho are closed and expected to impede outdoor enthusiasts’ summer recreation plans.

Heavy rains and floods in December and January washed roads down hillsides, or, in some cases, washed hillsides on top of roadways.

Damage is estimated at $10,000 or more for more than 40 of the roads, most of which won’t likely be repaired for more than a year, said John Kosza, Clearwater road supervisor. Repairs are expected to top $2.5 million.

The Federal Highway Administration already has agreed to help cover the most costly of the repairs.

Officials have no estimate of how many miles of road are impassable, but say there are more than 288 damaged sites on the forest.

“It’s just little segments here and there,” Kosza said. “It’s not very much in terms of miles.”

However, he said, it’s enough to hamper some summer forest users. While most of the roads in the area around the Clearwater River still are covered in snow, plowing won’t be enough to make them passable.

The Pierce-Superior Road 250, which runs from Clearwater County west into Montana - a popular route for log haulers - is blocked in several places near Black Canyon and is not expected to open all season.

It provides the best direct route from Superior, Mont., to Pierce and offers easy access to Kelly Creek, a popular fishing and huckleberry-picking area off the North Fork of the Clearwater River. Since there also is a slide on Road 255 near Deception Saddle, there is no open route between the two towns.

It will be at least July - when snows melt - before officials can determine whether there will be an alternate route.

The forest’s major transportation network remains open, but crews will spend much of the summer repairing these minor roads. That means roads will be “dustier and bumpier than normal,” Kosza said.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ROAD CLOSURES Road closures include: Beaver Creek Road 247 is blocked by a landslide about 17 miles northeast of Orofino. This week, an alternate route will be plowed using roads 680, 681 and 246 over Sheep Saddle. Toboggan Ridge Road 581 is missing in several places, beginning four miles out of the junction with Road 255, which is closed for the season. There will be access this summer only from the Lolo Motorway. Once at Cayuse airstrip, the only way is back to Lolo. Lolo Motorway Road 500 appears to be clear, but most of the roads leading to it are impassable. Saddle Camp Road 107 is closed for the season. Doe Creek Road 566 also is washed out in several places. Several other routes remain closed or restricted. For more information contact the forest in Orofino at (208) 476-4541.

This sidebar appeared with the story: ROAD CLOSURES Road closures include: Beaver Creek Road 247 is blocked by a landslide about 17 miles northeast of Orofino. This week, an alternate route will be plowed using roads 680, 681 and 246 over Sheep Saddle. Toboggan Ridge Road 581 is missing in several places, beginning four miles out of the junction with Road 255, which is closed for the season. There will be access this summer only from the Lolo Motorway. Once at Cayuse airstrip, the only way is back to Lolo. Lolo Motorway Road 500 appears to be clear, but most of the roads leading to it are impassable. Saddle Camp Road 107 is closed for the season. Doe Creek Road 566 also is washed out in several places. Several other routes remain closed or restricted. For more information contact the forest in Orofino at (208) 476-4541.