Willow Creek Road, in Belt, will be closed for repairs this week.

The road has had two recent slides and currently, about 2.98 miles up the road, on Dawson Hill, the southbound lane is unsafe for heavy loads, according to Cascade County public works.

County staff discovered the slides on Sept. 24, just after the area received several days of excessive rainfall, according to public works.

The road was coned off to a single lane, Les Payne, county public works director, told County Commissioners during their Oct. 2 work session.

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The road is on a Minuteman missile route for Malmstrom Air Force Base, so it’s important to repair the road, Payne said.

He said he’s been talking to Malmstrom officials about their assistance with repair costs.

He said the road was also heavily used by ranchers and farmers so there’s a lot of semi traffic and the section of road isn’t safe due to the slides.

Payne told commissioners during that work session that he had reached out to local contractors about the road and received one response from Shumaker Trucking and Excavation.

During that meeting, he provided cost estimates to commissioners, who are set to finalize the contract during their Oct. 8 meeting.

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The Schumaker estimate is a repair cost of $210 per lineal foot plus $2,100 for mobilization.

Schumaker will tie in a keyway with riprap, then build the slide area back up with shale material from an old bonow pit located on the upper adjacent road shoulder, according to public works.

Payne said said county public works staff has repaired some slides themselves, but due to the steep hill on this section of road, his department wasn’t equipped to make that repair.

Schumaker is scheduled to being repairs, which are expected to about three days depending on weather, to the road on Oct. 9 and the road will be closed to all traffic.

Travelers are asked to use alternate routes such as Jarvi Road and Upper Willow Creek Road.

Driver are asked to be aware of work signs, detours, road closures and construction-posted speed limits.

The road is expected to reopen for travel at 5 p.m. Oct. 12.

For additional information contact Cascade County Public Works Office at 406-454-6920.