Hwy 20 Spring Opening Status Report (ZT)

From: ----- [mailto:----@WSDOT.WA.GOV]
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2007 11:16 AM
To: -------
Subject: Reopening Start Date for NCHighway

Here's the release going to the media:

WENATCHEE – The work to reopen SR 20, The North Cascades Highway, is currently scheduled to begin March 26th.  “After the last several years of lower than, or normal snow pack, we’ve got a bit more than usual, but it’s going to be pretty typical, nothing like the ice layer we had to deal with two years ago,” said Okanogan Maintenance Superintendent Dean Hills.  WSDOT’s North Central Region Avalanche Control technicians evaluated the snow conditions from the eastern closure gate to the west side of Rainy Pass on snowmobiles and a sno cat on Tuesday, March 6th.

They found about four feet of snow at the Silver Star Gate, west of Mazama.  A few miles west of there, below the 13 Cutthroat Ridge avalanche chutes, snow depths ranged from 12 to 35 feet with one 20-foot deep slide, measuring 1,200 feet wide! (CR #10)  The snow on the highway under the three Liberty Bell Mountain avalanche chutes, just east of the Washington Pass summit, ranged from 40 to 55 feet deep.  The summit of Washington had eight feet and Rainy Pass summit had nine, while at Whistler, between the two, snow was 15 feet deep over the roadway.  Due to the depth of the snow from the avalanche chutes, much of the clearing will have to be done by caterpillars rather than snow blowers, which will slow the work, somewhat.  At the same time, the assessment found little rock and tree debris in the slides which could speed the progress.

SR 20 has been closed since November 13th.  Last spring, the highway reopened on May 1st.  Five to six weeks is the expectation for the work to reopen the highway this spring due to somewhat more snow than an average year.  An early to mid May opening is slightly later than the mid to late April average over the past 30 years.  “We’re expecting the snow to stabilize and the spring avalanche danger to be reduced by the end of the month, but weather could change everything.  We’ll see,” said Hills.

Visit the North Cascades Web page to view pictures from the assessment:  http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Traffic/Passes/NorthCascades/