Two injured in Highway 53 crash near Rathdrum, road blocked for hours

A left turn near milepost 12 on Highway 53 turned a routine afternoon drive into a long shutdown outside Rathdrum, with two drivers hurt and the road still blocked hours later.

Idaho State Police said the crash happened at about 1:44 p.m. Monday, April 20, when an eastbound FedEx delivery truck driven by a 33-year-old Spokane man turned left in front of a westbound Kenworth truck and trailer driven by a 40-year-old man from Bonners Ferry. Both drivers were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The collision drew Idaho State Police, the Idaho Transportation Department and Northern Lakes Fire to the scene. By 5:40 p.m., Highway 53 was still blocked, a delay that would have rippled through one of north Kootenai County’s busiest east-west corridors, affecting commuters, freight traffic and local drivers trying to get through the Rathdrum area.

The wreck landed on a stretch of highway that has seen major work in recent years. ITD widened Highway 53 in 2024 between Rathdrum City Park and Sylte Ranch Road, adding sidewalks, a continuous center-turn lane and a dedicated right-turn lane at Bingham Street. Construction resumed in March 2025 near SH-41 to add a second northbound through lane, and that project was completed in mid-May 2025. ITD says corridor improvements along SH-53 total more than $40 million.

That spending reflects how heavily the route is used and how often turning movements can complicate traffic flow. ITD has said more work is planned on the corridor, including the Bruss Road to Latah Street segment and the Pleasant View Road area, with safety and mobility still driving the upgrades.

Monday’s crash also fit a troubling pattern on Highway 53 near Rathdrum. A separate wreck west of Rathdrum in March 2024 blocked the highway for about two hours and killed one driver. Even when a collision does not turn fatal, the corridor can seize up quickly, especially when commercial vehicles are involved and cleanup stretches into the evening.

For drivers in Rathdrum and across northern Kootenai County, the message was plain: Highway 53 remains a critical route, but a single left turn can still shut it down for hours.