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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) (click to enlarge)   ADVERTISEMENT   Related Stories • Mountain Loop Highway reopens -- for now 10/26/07   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 Fixing the Mountain Loop Highway The U.S. Forest Service plans to spend up to $700,000 to build a new bridge and reroute part of the road away from the Sauk River. By Scott Morris / Herald Writer DARRINGTON - More than three years after record floods ripped up part of the Mountain Loop Highway, the U.S. Forest Service has come up with a plan to fix it. The proposal includes a 60-foot bridge over a spot long plagued by washouts and avalanches. The plan also features designs meant to minimize environmental damage, such as moving the road farther from the South Fork Sauk River. The repairs could cost up to $700,000, depending on materials, said Phyllis Reed, acting district ranger for the Darrington Ranger District. Since the flood, the 50-mile loop that connects Darrington to Granite Falls has remained severed by four washouts along a stretch of gravel road several miles long. Drivers from Granite Falls have had to turn back at Barlow Pass, while those from Darrington have had to turn around near Bedal Creek. The Forest Service plan would reconnect the loop. Some residents in both towns have lobbied the Forest Service to fix the road, saying tourism has suffered. At the same time, environmental groups have pushed to keep the road closed, saying it is an ideal corridor for wildlife and hikers. The Forest Service determined that the Mountain Loop Highway should be restored because of its recreational value, Reed said, and it just completed a lengthy environmental assessment that it says indicates the road can be fixed without significant harm to the environment. A 45-day appeal period on the plan has begun. If no one appeals, work could begin this year. A completion date would depend on variables such as salmon migrations, which would determine the times of year when work could be done near the river, Reed said. Plans for the project include special designs to help prevent further washouts, Reed said.The biggest is the new bridge, which would be built between Monte Cristo Lakes and Elliott Creek, an area where floods have repeatedly ripped up the road. "An avalanche chute from the Twin Peaks area pushes the river to the east side" into the road, Reed said. Building a bridge there instead of rebuilding the road will allow the river to move beneath the highway, Reed said. Other washouts will be fixed by moving the road farther from the river, or, in one case, using big rocks to elevate the roadbed. Money for the repairs is expected to come from the Emergency Repair of Federally Owned Roads Program administered by the Federal Highway Administration. "It's taken so long because it's more complex than initially anticipated," Reed said. Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com. To learn more The plan to fix the Mountain Loop Highway is available at www.fs.fed.us/r6/mbs/projects or at the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest supervisor's office, 21905 64th Ave. W., Mountlake Terrace, WA 98043-2278. For more information, call 425-744-3573.

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