Date:
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Contact:
Jeff Adamson, Communications - 509-667-2815 (Wenatchee)
Dustin Terpening, Communications - 360-757-5997 (Burlington)
WENATCHEE – WSDOT maintenance crews will open the North Cascades Highway (SR 20) at 8 a.m. on Thursday, May 1, precisely as they predicted when they began work six weeks ago on March 24. When the gates swing open, drivers should find that road conditions are bare and dry or bare and wet across the entire route.
The forecast calls for more snow today and tomorrow with high temperatures only in the 30s. On Thursday the forecast calls for no snow and warmer temps.
WSDOT Twisp Maintenance Supervisor Don Becker set the reopening at 8 a.m., which gives the crews a couple hours to "sweep" the entire highway from Silver Star to Diablo and plow or clean up any snow which might have fallen overnight or any slough from avalanche chutes.
"An 8 a.m. Thursday opening provides the safety margin we need so the first drivers over the passes make their trip successfully," Becker said.
East- and westside crews met east of Rainy Pass at 11 a.m. Monday. Widening and cutting safety pull-out areas are all that remains before the highway opens.
“When compared to the last 30 years, opening the pass on May 1 is fairly typical,” Becker said. “We expected the clearing to take about six weeks if weather and equipment cooperated. We had some setbacks from both, but still made our goal. That’s a great tribute to the crew. This winter’s snow fall was greater than we’ve seen in years on the west side and slides brought down a lot of rock which limited the use of snow blowers through avalanche zones on both sides. That slowed the clearing, as well.”
State Route 20 has been closed since December 4. Over the past ten years, the pass has opened to traffic between March 10 and May 7. The latest opening was June 14, 1974. Work to open the pass has taken as little as two weeks to as many as eight. The highway was never closed during the drought winter of ’76-77. Weekly updates, pictures and video of the annual spring opening are posted on the WSDOT SR 20 web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades.
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