Were you there back in the 70's when the landslide buried the road south of there at Pollock? It couldn't have happened at a better place. Pollock is on the opposite side of the river and there are 2 bridges to it. The slide happened between the bridges. It buried the road 20 or 30' deep IIRC so they just routed the traffic over the 2 bridges and through Pollock. They let the mud sit for a couple years to dry out then rebuilt the highway over the top of it.
If that slide had happened anywhere else between New Meadows and Whitebird, it would have completely shut off all travel between north and south Idaho. You would have had to go through either MT or OR & WA to go around.
