Date:
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Contact:
Meagan McFadden, WSDOT Communications, (509) 654-0697
YAKIMA - WSDOT and contractor crews today opened the emergency route around the landslide closure on SR 410 to all drivers. Previously only local residents with identification could use the emergency route on Nile Loop Road.
Now it is a race against time and winter weather for crews working on a new route through the Nile Valley and around the massive landslide.
WSDOT advises drivers the current SR 410 emergency route, which detours around a four-mile section between mileposts 104 and 108, is a rough, gravel-surfaced road. WSDOT could close the roadway for the safety of drivers at anytime if landslide activity or an increase in river flows is detected. While keeping the roadway open is important for residents and businesses along the SR 410 corridor, motorist safety will not be compromised. For now, the most reliable access to the restaurants, cabins, and stores along the SR 410 corridor is from the west over Chinook Pass. WSDOT will keep Chinook Pass open until heavy snows create unavoidable avalanche danger.
WSDOT and contractor crews continue work on portions of Nile Loop Road and drivers on the emergency route could experience long delays due to construction activities. Safety is WSDOT’s number one priority and drivers will not be allowed to stop or park on the emergency route.
“The Nile Loop Road emergency detour is just the first of several steps to re-establish this transportation corridor,” said Don Whitehouse, WSDOT Regional Administrator. “The river and weather continue to pose challenges for WSDOT and Yakima County, and we estimate that the emergency repairs will only last several weeks before the river threatens the emergency road.”
WSDOT and Yakima County continue to work on a winter-durable detour and widen the river channel to buy the time necessary to construct the detour.
Over the weekend WSDOT and Selland Construction, Inc., of Wenatchee worked in the channel to divert the river water away from the landslide and the emergency route on Nile Loop Road. The route, which WSDOT is surveying and designing, will be built further away from the river, and will be durable enough to withstand the winter months and the rise and fall of the new river channel.
On October 11, 2009 a massive landslide permanently changed the landscape and river dynamics in the Nile Valley area. WSDOT continues to gather information for a long-term solution and fix for SR 410.
WSDOT offers a number of ways for people to get up-to-date information:
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