SR 20 open Thursday @ 2 pm
WSDOT maintenance crewmembers will open SR 20, the North Cascades Highway , on Thursday, April 26th at 2 p.m. That’s two weeks earlier than first estimated. Crews started the clearing effort just 5 weeks ago, on March 26th. Avalanche chutes on Liberty Bell Mountain released more snow on Monday, reducing the snow slide danger, while cooperative weather allowed the work to proceed much faster than originally anticipated.
The North Cascades Highway is the northern most pass across the Cascades in Washington and 34 miles of the highway between Newhalem and Mazama has been closed for the last six months. Crews reopen the pass each spring when snow conditions stabilize and avalanche danger declines.
Last Thursday, the potential for tomorrow’s opening seemed dim. Two of the snow blowers were out of service. WSDOT mechanics spent Friday repairing both blowers so crews would have both ready for work Monday morning. East and west side crews met near Rainy Pass on Monday. Widening and cutting safety pull out areas as well as cleaning up snow from slides that released on Monday is all that remains to be done to reopen the highway.
Drivers will find the road conditions bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route. “When compared to the last 30 years, opening the pass in late April is fairly typical,” said Becker. This winter’s snow fall was greater than we’ve seen in recent years, and when we did the assessment, the snow was light and deep. We thought we’d have to use special caterpillars on snow that wouldn’t support the equipment we typically use. We also found lots of downed trees in the lower sections. By the time we got started, warm temperatures and rain firmed the snow pack which stabilized avalanche chutes and allowed us to use the big D-8 cats. At the same time, we didn’t find more downed trees or debris in the slide zones at higher elevations. The crew also played a big part. They were committed to trying to get the road open before Saturday’s fishing season opener because it means so much to Skagit and Methow Valley businesses,” said Becker.
SR 20 has been closed since November 13th. Over the previous eight years, the re-opening effort has begun between February 28th and March 18th. Over that same period, the pass has reopened for traffic between March 10th and May 7th. The latest opening was June 14th, 1974. The re-opening effort has taken as little as two weeks to as many as eight. The highway remained open during the drought winter of ’76-77. Updates and photos of the annual spring reopening are posted on the WSDOT SR 20 web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades
