Scenic Shortcut

Although a fall flood closed North Idaho’s Murray-to-Thompson Pass road, winter hasn’t stopped its reconstruction.

Workers will turn the dirt forest road into 10 miles of paved highway in Shoshone County, starting near Murray and ending at the Montana state line. The lower four miles of road will be re-aligned.

The road connects with the Montana highway that leads to Thompson Falls. When re-opened next fall, it will provide a fast and scenic shortcut between the Coeur d’Alene/Spokane area and tourist attractions such as Glacier National Park.

The $7.5 million project is being paid for by the Federal Lands Highway Program. Tommer Construction of Ephrata, Wash., got the contract in October.

The workers’ first efforts included moving part of a petroleum pipeline and fiber-optic telephone cable, which lie on either side of part of the road, project engineer Tom Sutton said last week.

That work was interrupted by a Dec. 1 flash flood. The flood washed away parts of the road, plugged some culverts along Prichard Creek, and piled up debris. The flood also damaged four bridges, including a wooden one that had to be replaced, Sutton said.

Now, there’s a foot or two of snow at the 4,835-foot summit.

There are about 15 workers there now.

“Most of the excavation has stopped,” Sutton said. “We’re building some wetlands. And we’re crushing (rock).”

The wetlands construction will make up for the loss of tiny ponds that are being filled in. The ponds are pockets of water between the piles of historic mine tailings on which the lower road is being built.

“We’re putting in three to four acres of new wetlands, building five or six more ponds,” Sutton said. “This spring, we’ll go in and plant shrubs and revegetate areas around the ponds.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo