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SR 20 - North Cascades Highway - 2006 Spring Opening Photos

Pass is open as of noon, May 1st.
May 1 - the road is open at noon today.
A snow cat works above the highway on a hillside below Liberty Bell.
April 20 - A snow cat works above the highway and below Liberty Bell to make a trench behind a snow wall.  The trench and snow wall will help stop/catch avalanches before they reach the road, making the highway safer for crews to work on.  The trench also helps keep snow off the road, making clean up easier and faster after an avalanche.  

Crews working from both sides of the pass met on Thursday, April 20.
April 20 - Crews working from both sides of the pass met on Thursday, April 20.  They have one lane cut through nine feet of snow.  Crews will work on widening the cut and getting the road open.
 



Crews clear snow at Liberty Bell
April 11 - Crews are working to clear heavy snow at the avalanche chutes near Liberty Bell.		 Bulldozers are needed to clear snow from the avalanche chutes
April 11 - It takes bulldozers to remove the 40 or more feet below the Liberty Bell chutes.
Dick Warner measure the snow depth above the highway after a snow blower made a cut through the snow.
April 5 - Dick Warner measures the snow depth above the highway after a snow blower made a cut through the snow.  In this location, near milepost 153, it's four feet deep.   		 Crews blow snow off the highway with sunny skies above.
April 5 - Crews blow snow off the highway with sunny skies above.












Crews blaze path through 5 feet of snow.
April 5 - From the west crews are nearing mile post 154 with the snow blower.  The blower is eating a fresh path right through the hard compact snow covering the roadway.  A few more passes through the snow and the road will be visible. 

Working together to get the snow off the highway.
March 29 - Graders, front-end loaders, bulldozers and snow blowers all work together to get the snow off the highway quickly.


Plowing snow off the highway.
March 29 - The snow is six to eight feet deep and extremely compacted.  Yet, the snow blowers eat right through it and blow the snow off the highway. 

Using a bulldozer to push snow out of the way.
March 29 - Pushing snow off the highway. 



Crews are making good progess on the West side of the pass.
March 27 - Crews are making good progress at blowing snow off the road. We have two lanes open and the ditches cleaned all the way to milepost 148, 14 miles east of the west closure gate.		 Snow removal work begins
March 20 - Work begins at Early Winters
on the east side.



Day one of snow removal, crews began at Early Winters
March 20 - Crews have made good progress for the first day.		 More than 45 feet of snow covers SR 20 under Liberty Bell.
March 13 - more than 45 feet of snow
covers SR 20 under Liberty Bell.
The snow is upwards of 10 feet deep over SR 20 at Spiral Gulch. You can see a highway sign almost completely covered with snow.
March 13 - the snow is 10 feet deep in places along the highway. A highway sign is just barely visible above the snow.

Crews measure snow depth.
Feb. 22 - Crews measure how deep the snow is over the highway. 
 

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