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Timber!

It’s early in the morning, the sun is out, birds are chirping and it couldn’t be a more beautiful day in Clayton. ITD crews from multiple areas and districts get ready for the day, coffee or energy drink in hand, and drive up to a sand shed to join together for a safety meeting. Cody Schmidt, the boss man of the D6 Arco/Mackay/Challis area, gathers everyone around the rigs to begin the meeting.

Now why is everyone meeting in Clayton of all places? Good question! On ID-75 between Clayton and Stanley, crews from both District 4 and District 6 noticed there were some areas of concern with unstable trees, rock slides and concrete barriers in dire need of repair.

Our crews and foreman worked together, cross district, to come up with a plan of how to get this project on track and done before it was too late. Knowing this project was on the top of the to-do list, Cody got a plan together and had this scheduled for August 6.

Crews came from all over — District 6, District 4, District 3 and headquarters — to help out. Due to the danger involved in this project, safety was top priority. With a very narrow road that edges the Salmon River, blind spots in the roadways, and the pure danger of tree clearing on a steep hillside with rock slides all over, it was important to take every precaution.

Shortly after the safety meeting, everyone split up to place equipment where it was needed, set up traffic control, and get the crews ready to climb up the mountain to cut trees. Traffic was flowing nicely as they rolled into our traffic control, and when the guys were ready to cut down a tree, traffic was stopped as we waited. As the trees crashed and tumbeled down the slide, hearing the oooh’s and ahhh’s from all of us standing by, each tree slid down, landing exactly as planned.

All the trees that needed to be cleared were cut down. The rock slides that were of concern were given extra stabilization, and the damaged concrete barriers were replaced. It couldn’t have gone any better.

Without such great crews working together, this project wouldn’t have been so successful. We always plan for the worst and hope for the best. This is a perfect example of that!

Everyone worked well together. It was seamless. Our people knew what needed to be done, how to do it, and when. It was exciting to see how well our guys work with each other, even across districts. This goes to show how planning ahead, working together, and breaking down district borders pays off. Great job, guys - keep up the amazing work!