U.S. 95 to close for landslide repair, meaning long detours for Idahoans — for weeks
Officials are preparing to fully close U.S. Highway 95 southwest of McCall to allow crews to begin repairs necessitated by a landslide. The closure will prevent local residents from traveling around the collapsed area.
The Idaho Transportation Department announced that it had mostly shut down 25 miles of U.S. 95 between New Meadows and Council last Sunday evening. Steady rain caused a “few hundred feet of downhill landslide of the roadway shoulder,” the department said in a Monday news release.
The collapse was located at milepost 146.5 in Stevens along the Weiser River, about 27 miles southwest of McCall. Council is about 13 miles south of Stevens; New Meadows is about 15 miles north of the town.
While nonlocal vehicles were redirected to take Idaho 55, resident traffic in the area was allowed through the collapse zone sporadically as experts assessed the site and created a plan for repairs.
But now officials say the landslide zone will be closed to everyone starting at 8 p.m. Sunday.
Locals’ last chance to drive through will be between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday. The department said there are “no local detours that are passable this early in the season, and no local routes suitable for the impact of highway traffic.”
“After the closure on Sunday evening, the road will remain closed, as the contractor’s equipment will require both lanes for earthwork removal and wall installation,” the department said in a Wednesday news release.
ITD clarified to the Idaho Statesman that residents in the zone who are south of the actual slide still can take U.S. 95 south to leave the area, and those north of it can use U.S. 95 north to reach their destinations.
The towns between Council and New Meadows include Hoover, Fruitvale, Starkey, Glendale, Stevens, Evergreen, Woodland, Pine Ridge, Tamarack and Rubicon.
For some residents, this could means an hourslong detour to get between home and work. Someone who lived in Council, for instance, but had work or business in McCall would have to drive south far enough to cut over to Idaho 55, where they then could head north.
“The Idaho Transportation Department is actively working to identify potential alternative routes for workers and others who need to bypass the closure,” Sophia Miraglio, department spokesperson, told the Statesman. “ITD understands the impact this closure has and will continue to look for ways to minimize disruptions.”
The department also said it is “working with emergency responders to ensure uninterrupted service for all areas.”
The department modified permitting to allow commercial vehicles on Idaho 55 at this time, and 53-foot single trailers may use that highway.
The repair project will involve a 10-foot-deep excavation of a 200-foot section of the road, followed by building a retaining wall anchored by steel piles “driven into the stable rock layers of the slope,” the department said.
The department said it expects crews to complete repairs by early May.
The landslide wasn’t wholly unexpected. Experts were aware of the potential for storm damage in this area and were monitoring it, according to the department.
“These natural weather events are nearly impossible to predict,” Jason Brinkman, ITD district engineer, said in a statement. “Fortunately, given this season of storms, we are ready to respond and expedite this project.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM.
