Biggest Story of 2025
Our biggest story of the year, in terms of local affect and reader interest, was Highway 95 shutting down north of Council at mile-marker 146.5 due to a small, but impactful, landslide.
The slide was first reported on March 16. ITD was able to keep one lane of traffic open and moving until repair work got underway on about March 30 when the highway was completely closed. Highway 95 was ‘officially’ reopened on April 26, though there were several local reports of the road being open as early as the previous Friday.
The repair work was carried out by contractor Braun-Jensen out of Cambridge. In a news release, the Idaho Transportation Department said that they were working two shifts per day to accelerate the work.
Braun-Jensen operated an ATV shuttle on the Weiser River Trail to get commuters from one side of the closure to the other. There was about a mile segment of trail that connected two impromptu parking areas allowing folks to get to their place of work. Treasure Valley Transit also adjusted their schedules and routes to be able to pick people up for work on the north side of the closure.
Several local business reported serious declines in sales due to the lack of traffic. However, many locals said they enjoyed the slower speeds and almost no traffic on the Highway during the closure.
Shane McAfee, owner of A&A Towing told us that he was quite busy rescuing and recovering stranded motorists and stuck vehicles as they tried to circumvent the closure on snowy forest service roads. These roads aren’t maintained in the winter months and if they see any traffic, it’s snowmobiles. He told us he recovered over 22 vehicles in a little over 4 weeks.
