Date:  Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Contact: Jeff Adamson, Communications Manager - 509-667-2815 (Wenatchee) 
Dustin Terpening, Communications - 360-757-5997 (Burlington)

WENATCHEE – WSDOT maintenance crewmembers will open the North Cascades Highway (SR 20) at 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 26th, more than two weeks ahead of schedule. Cooperative weather stabilized snow conditions which allowed the work to proceed much faster than originally anticipated. When the gates swing open, drivers will find the road conditions bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route.

Crews started the clearing effort just five weeks ago, on March 26th. Liberty Bell Mountain, which has the four largest avalanche chutes on the highway, emptied themselves naturally on Monday, reducing the snow slide danger.

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.

“When compared to the last 30 years, opening the pass in late April is fairly typical,” said Twisp Maintenance Supervisor Don Becker. “We expected the clearing to take six to eight weeks. This winter’s snow fall was greater than we’ve seen in recent years, and when we did our assessment in early March, the snow was very light, but also very deep. We thought we’d have to use special wide-track caterpillars on snow that wouldn’t support the equipment we typically use. We also found lots of downed trees in the lower sections which makes for slow going. As 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 the higher elevations. That all sped the process, despite some occasional equipment breakdowns, but it was the crew that played the biggest 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, and they did it!”

State Route 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

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