Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008 Avalanche danger closes North Cascades Highway By Gale Fiege Herald Writer The North Cascades Highway is closed again because of the danger of avalanches, and it will remain closed all weekend. The cross-mountain route, which is part of Highway 20, had opened May 1 to traffic, but highertemperatures have caused extremely unstable conditions in potential avalanche areas, state transportation department spokesman Dustin Terpening said. The highway closed at about 1 p.m. on Thursday. Crews will go back into the mountain pass area on Monday to see if the highway can be cleared of snow and prepared again for traffic, Terpening said. “It’s too dangerous for us to go in there right now, so we certainly don’t want any drivers there,” he said. One slide had already come across the highway at Liberty Bell Mountain, at about milepost 165. Crews were able to move the snow out of the way to make sure travelers could be cleared off the passes, Terpening said. The gates are closed at milepost 134 on the west side and 170 on the east side. Crews had worked since late March for the May opening of the highway, which closes each winter because of heavy snow and the danger of avalanches. The 69-mile stretch of mountainous road had been closed since Dec. 4. Highway 20 is one of four highways that link the west side of the state to the east side, across the Cascade Range. The highway provides an important link for the communities of Darrington and Arlington along Highway 530, which connects with the North Cascades route at Rockport. Just about every year the North Cascades Highway is closed for the winter and generally reopens to traffic in April or May. In some years it reopens early, as it did in 2005 when it opened March 10. The latest opening was June 14, 1974. And the highway never closed during the drought winter of 1976-77. Drivers headed over mountain passes can dial 511 from most phones to get updated road information from the state Department of Transportation. Information also is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/passes/northcascades.

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