The hopes that the Selway River Road, which has been blocked by a rock slide since July 15, would be reopened by now have been dashed as rocks continue to slough off from the hillside above.

Dan Fitting, supervisor of the Kidder-Harris road district, said Monday the road contractors, Debco Construction, of Orofino, have two excavators at the head of the slope to push material down in an attempt to stabilize the slide.

“But sometime Wednesday or early Thursday, it slipped again and they had to go back up top and had to drop power lines and fall more trees,” Fitting said. “Yeah, it just keeps crawling.”

The slide is located directly below power lines, and trees have to be taken down so they won’t fall on those lines, he said.

The Selway River Road runs through the Fenn Ranger District of the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. The route is used by campers, hikers and river recreationists throughout the summer.

The rock slide happened about 1 mile up the Selway River Road past Three Rivers Resort. Fitting originally estimated the rock slide mass at about 28,000 yards of material and reaching about 170 feet up the hillside. Debco has hired a geotechnical engineer to assess the latest volume of the slide but, so far, Fitting has not heard a report.

He said the material from the rock slide will be hauled to a dump site at the O’Hara Campground, about 6 miles away.

People who live on the other side of the slide have been able to exit through Swiftwater Road, which comes out at Kooskia. Some people have had to leave their campers behind, however, because the road requires high-clearance vehicles for passage.

“I usually get calls from campers every day hoping the river route is open,” he said. But there is no estimate yet of when that will happen.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.