Crash shuts down eastbound I-90 at Fourth of July Pass

Eastbound I-90 at Fourth of July Pass came to a stop at midday when a crash blocked the roadway at milepost 26, cutting off one of Kootenai County’s most important travel corridors. Idaho State Police said the collision happened about noon in the middle of an active construction zone, and the eastbound lanes were completely blocked before one lane reopened about an hour later.

The shutdown rippled quickly beyond the crash scene. Drivers headed toward Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and points beyond the pass were told to expect delays while traffic got moving again, a familiar warning on a stretch of highway that carries commuters, freight and weekend traffic across the mountain grade. Even a short-lived blockage at Fourth of July Pass can slow the day for people who depend on Interstate 90 to get to work, move goods or cross the state line.

The timing mattered because the crash landed squarely inside the Idaho Transportation Department’s I-90 Wolf Lodge to Cedars project, a two-year resurfacing effort over about 8 miles of the pass. The project is intended to improve safety and ride quality, extend the life of the roadway, add illumination near the top of Fourth of July Pass, improve drainage and replace several miles of concrete barrier. ITD has said the work will continue through fall 2026.

Traffic through the project has already been constrained. In a previous update, ITD said the speed limit near the work zone was reduced to 55 mph and traffic was sometimes narrowed to a single lane in both directions, adding another layer of vulnerability when drivers meet lane shifts, slower speeds and congestion on the grade. That makes the pass especially sensitive to any blocking incident, even one that clears within an hour.

The June 6 crash also fit a pattern. Another blocking crash shut down westbound traffic at milepost 26.5 on Feb. 14, 2025, and a fatal crash in June 2025 near milepost 29 showed how serious incidents on the same corridor can turn deadly. For now, the latest crash was temporary, but it was another reminder that Fourth of July Pass remains a narrow point in the region’s transportation network, where a single collision can stall movement for much of the day.