Welcome to Skagit County
September 2nd, 2004
SR 20 ROCKSLIDE FIX PROGRESSING; CHALLENGES CONTINUE
NEWHALEM – The Washington State Department of Transportation completed an access road last week across the steep Falls Creek hillside above State Route 20 (North Cascades Highway). Crews are digging a large ditch to catch rocks that fall from the hillside and help keep drivers and the highway safe. The access road allows crews to dig the ditch from the top down.
Crews are working as quickly as possible to dig and build the ditch before winter arrives in the North Cascades. Rough terrain, unpredictable rocks, and weather threaten our ability to complete the ditch this year.
“Huge amounts of loose and unstable rock, much of which remained from last November's massive rockslide, made safely pioneering an access road slow and tedious," said Marco Foster, WSDOT Engineering Manager. “Now that we completed the access road we can finally blast and remove rock from the top down. We're working hard to complete the ditch before winter storms arrive.”
WSDOT is building the ditch on SR 20 between Newhalem and Diablo to protect drivers who use the highway. They are removing approximately 170,000 cubic yards of rock and debris from the hillside to build a ditch roughly 800 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 100 feet high. The new ditch will catch and contain rocks and prevent them from landing on the highway.
Since July 6, when construction began, crews have completed work that makes the highway safer for drivers. They removed tons of loose rock, blasted away parts of the hillside, installed large rock fences to catch falling rocks, and bolted rocks to the hillside. Crews will continue to blast and remove rock from the hillside until the ditch is complete or winter weather halts construction.
“If winter weather halts construction before the ditch is complete we will reinstall real-time warning signs on the highway and connect them to hillside geophones that listen for rock movement,” said Todd Harrison, WSDOT Assistant Regional Administrator. "This warning system and the safety improvements we already completed this summer will allow us to keep one lane open at this location for drivers this winter, even if we aren't able to complete the ditch.”
WSDOT will still close 43 miles of the North Cascades Highway as they do every winter. The highway is usually closed in the winter, from seven miles east of Diablo Dam (milepost 134), west of 4,855’ Rainy Pass, to seven miles west of Mazama (milepost 177), east of 5,477’ Washington Pass. The closure point on the west side is 13 miles east of the ditch construction work (milepost 121).
The highway is open during construction. Drivers will encounter traffic delays between Newhalem and Diablo from 5:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
For more information visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/northcascades.
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For updated information on the above and other Department of Transportation traffic revisions in the Puget Sound area, call the Commuter Information Line at DOT-HIWY (206-368-4499). The Commuter Information Line may also be reached toll free in Washington at 1-800-695-ROAD (7623). TTY users can call 1-800-833-6388 and ask for (206) 515-3683.