ITD work day and night to open closed roadways

Pulling up to Highway 87, between U.S. 20 and Reynolds Pass you’ll see that the road is closed. And for good reason.

“This a substantial winter, we have not had to have this much equipment,” said Jason Minzghor, the District 6 engineer for the Idaho Transportation Department. “We have I believe seven rotaries up in operation, working different highways.”

But, it was a change from Tuesday’s heavy winds. Snowplows and transportation technician operators were able to clear more roadways because there was not as much drifting snow behind them.

“It’s calmed down a little bit since yesterday,” said Kevin Rinehart, a transportation technician operator.

One of the major obstacles that ITD said they are facing is the heavier snow and snowbanks.

“Once it starts getting over 4 feet, we struggle with just normal roadway equipment,” Minzghor said.

ITD said that on average the snowdrifts that are up in the area this week have been about 6 to 10 feet. When it is taller than their equipment can handle, they have to bring in rotaries.

“That is like a giant snow blower,” Minzghor said.

These machines are slower moving, so it takes longer to remove the snow, but do help.

“These rotaries open up an 8-foot path along the roadways and then we’ll have the snowplows, slowly pushing those drifts through and trying to make the road wider, so that we can get two lanes open,” Minzghor said.

As of Wednesday, U.S. 20 is open for local traffic only. ITD said they will continue to widen roadways through the night to get it eventually open to commercial traffic.

“Everybody’s been hands on deck since Saturday,” Rinehart said. “We work 24 hours a day, everybody’s doing their part.”

ITD have about seven rotaries on the closed highways. The department hopes that they will have this road clear by late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.