Lochsa/Lolo road work

[JamesW]

At coffee the other morning one of my friends mentioned he had seen on IDOT that "grinding surfacing work" will be taking place this summer on the Idaho section. Will go on too or through August.Good thing to check. Remember fines double in construction zones.

 

[Fontanaman]

Here is the Idaho highway construction web site: https://hb.511.idaho.gov/main.jsf - that took some digging.

 

[escapefjrtist]

Not planning to make that run this summer...but one never knows what will come up!

Montana calling?!?

--G

 

[JamesW]

Here is the Idaho highway construction web site: https://hb.511.idaho.gov/main.jsf - that took some digging.

Thanx. I took a look and found nothing on 12 construction wise, wonder where he got his info?

 

[zenwhipper]

Here is the Idaho highway construction web site: https://hb.511.idaho.gov/main.jsf - that took some digging.

Thanx. I took a look and found nothing on 12 construction wise, wonder where he got his info?

Same here. I am heading that way this summer... by bicycle actually. Would love to know more details on said project.

zen

 

[RPrice]

I looked at the IDT site, and like others couldn't find mention of construction going on, at least at this time. A friend is coming up from Reno tomorrow, and we plan to ride this route, and several others in MT over the next week. If we detect any issues on Hwy 12, I'll post up here.

Thanks for the link to the IDT site, that could come in handy.

 

[JamesW]

Allright, driving me in circles. Saw friend this am and he saw roadwork posted on GL1800riders forum a few (3)weeks ago. I dug through and found the post alleging paving on Id7(12)from Orofino-ish area to Greer grade road and referring to IDOT, about a six mile stretch east of orofino with gravel and pilot cars from May 6 to Aug sometime. Cannot find a thing on IDOT, however, IDOTS phone # is 1-888-432-7623,one of the usual phone labyrinths. And thats all folks.

 

[zenwhipper]

That is more helpful. At least a bit more to go on.

 

[smithe68]

Made the run today, no construction issues. Did run into a couple spots where the road has a serious ridge in the middle. The only model of motorcycle I saw more of than FJR's was Goldwings. Saw 2 '07's go by together, chatted with the owner of an '08, saw a '13 go by at the summit of Lolo Pass and a few others as well. Roads were good, weather was good, didn't see a single police officer!

 

[RPrice]

Made the run today, no construction issues. Did run into a couple spots where the road has a serious ridge in the middle. The only model of motorcycle I saw more of than FJR's was Goldwings. Saw 2 '07's go by together, chatted with the owner of an '08, saw a '13 go by at the summit of Lolo Pass and a few others as well. Roads were good, weather was good, didn't see a single police officer!

Thanks for this info! Plan to ride it on Wednesday or Thursday.

 

[smithe68]

Made the run today, no construction issues. Did run into a couple spots where the road has a serious ridge in the middle. The only model of motorcycle I saw more of than FJR's was Goldwings. Saw 2 '07's go by together, chatted with the owner of an '08, saw a '13 go by at the summit of Lolo Pass and a few others as well. Roads were good, weather was good, didn't see a single police officer!

Thanks for this info! Plan to ride it on Wednesday or Thursday.

How was your ride?

 

[RPrice]

Made the run today, no construction issues. Did run into a couple spots where the road has a serious ridge in the middle. The only model of motorcycle I saw more of than FJR's was Goldwings. Saw 2 '07's go by together, chatted with the owner of an '08, saw a '13 go by at the summit of Lolo Pass and a few others as well. Roads were good, weather was good, didn't see a single police officer!

Thanks for this info! Plan to ride it on Wednesday or Thursday.

How was your ride?

Good, but only rode to Lolo Pass from the MT side, accompanying a couple of old friends headed to the Victory Riders National Convention in Lewiston, ID. Road was in excellent shape on the MT side. My friends called later in the evening and said the road was fine to Lewiston.

It was raining very hard from Lolo, MT to the Pass and then on the return trip to my home in Salmon, ID via US 93, where I barely missed a major hail storm!! Anyway, no construction on the stretch I rode, and it was actually a fun ride in driving rain. My Aerostitch Roadcrafter kept me mostly dry, except for the crotch wet spot, which seems to be a signature exception to the "waterproof" Roadcrafter, and a little bit of water that soaked my T shirt around the shoulders (I need to put on my silk scarf or something to seal the neck opening).

I was gonna take some pics, but raining too hard.

Hope this helps.

P.S. Yes, it's a new Roadcrafter (2012), and yes I have waterproofed it this year via NikWax TX Direct Wash In. Still get the crotch leak in heavy rain. But it's not that bad. As long as I don't have to jump out of the suit and make a public appearance, as it will appear that I've wet my pants!! I know all Roadcrafter owners keep this important fact in mind.

 

[fjrgary]

Is there any preference which direction to ride Hwy 12 Lolo pass. Going east towards Montana better or going west from Montana towards Lewiston better? Or, no difference? I know I usually prefer going uphill when it comes to twisty roads. Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[RPrice]

Is there any preference which direction to ride Hwy 12 Lolo pass. Going east towards Montana better or going west from Montana towards Lewiston better? Or, no difference? I know I usually prefer going uphill when it comes to twisty roads. Thanks in advance for your input.

There's more uphill when driving from the Idaho side to the Montana side, west to east.

 

[MCRIDER007]

Is there any preference which direction to ride Hwy 12 Lolo pass. Going east towards Montana better or going west from Montana towards Lewiston better? Or, no difference? I know I usually prefer going uphill when it comes to twisty roads. Thanks in advance for your input.

Hwy 12 over Lolo pass is not a twisty road, it has sweeping curves, most of which are 45 mph or higher. The highway is on the north side of the river so the blind corners are right turns going downhill, left turns going downhill. Logging trucks and motor homes have a tendency to swing wide on the right turns when going downhill and most of the fatalities have been caused by downhill vehicles' failure to stay in their lane on blind right hand corners.

I prefer to go downhill because it is safer, if you are going uphill, stay to the far left on the blind left hand corners.

 

[fjrgary]

Thanks for the replies guys. I ended up going west from Montana to Idaho last Wednesday. Hardly any traffic, loved Montana's speed limit on Hwy 12, but when we came back into Idaho on Hwy 12 (LoLo pass) it dropped to 50mph. That's ridiculous! Fortunately, we didn't see any of Idaho's finest. I have to say Idaho has some of the best twisty, scenic and long roads I have ridden. St. Joe's scenic byway, route 50, near St. Maries is as good or better than Hwy. 36 in California. The only negative of St. Joe's is that it turns into a dirt road after 90 miles of tarmac heaven. But I actually consider this a positive because we got to ride it twice, east and westbound. I picked up a Butler motorcycle map to find the great roads and figured out a route that would hit most of them for the time we had and dodging the fires. And it turned out to be an EPIC road trip. I got a lot of the ideas for this trip from forum members. So once again, thanks to all that post.

To get back on topic: No construction issues at all.