U.S. 2 closed east of Stevens Pass

STEVENS PASS — Short of a Christmas miracle, U.S. 2 between Leavenworth and Stevens Pass may remain closed until there is a significant change in the weather.

A 35-mile stretch of the highway — one of the two primary east-west routes through the mountains open during the winter — has been closed since about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, after trees crashed down on two cars and killed two people.

“There’s just not much we can do about it,” said Jeff Adamson, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. “We’ve got trees that have overloaded, snow-laden branches that are causing the trees to tip out over the roadway. We don’t have any way to persuade the trees to drop their snow on the ground. So, until weather or wind causes that to happen — or we come up with a different strategy that works — we’re going to be in this situation.”

He added, “The thought of having the road closed for weeks is just mind-boggling, but at this point we don’t know how long its going to be closed.”

Adamson said the DOT is not hiring tree crews to cut down the leaning trees because many of them are on steep slopes in deep snow, and it’s too dangerous. He said it’s even too dangerous for snowplows to be working on the roads.

Meanwhile, holiday travelers can expect even slower driving on Snoqualmie and Blewett passes. Adamson said 7,000 to 10,000 drivers cross Stevens Pass on a typical holiday, and all those drivers will have to use the other passes. Snoqualmie Pass usually has about 50,000 drivers a day on holidays, he said.

“People should plan to leave earlier or leave later, check the web cameras, look at the weather,” he said.

The Stevens Pass trees are laboring under snow that fell a week ago. The trees are toppling because the ground isn’t frozen solid enough yet to stabilize the trees under the heavy load, Adamson said.

He said the DOT’s maintenance supervisor for Stevens Pass has been working in that area for 30 years and has never seen conditions like this.

He said it will either take freezing weather conditions for several days that will stabilize the tree roots, or very warm conditions that melt snow and cause it to fall from the branches, to reduce the danger.

The National Weather Service in Spokane has forecast low temperatures in the teens and 20s through next weekend for the Lake Wenatchee area. But more snow is also predicted, with a 90 percent chance for Tuesday afternoon and a 30 percent chance Wednesday.

The DOT is considering alternative ways to knock the snow off.

Adamson said someone has suggested using a National Guard Chinook helicopter to try and blow snow from the trees. But he said the Chelan County PUD tried that last week with a smaller contract helicopter with little success.

“At this point, we do not have a strategy to force the branches to release their overload of snow,” Adamson said. “We just don’t know how to do that safely.”

So the highway will remain closed indefinitely.

“This is a very serious situation,” he said. “We can’t let people drive under those trees.

“We’re not sending out our own trucks out under those bent trees either. … We’re kind of afraid to speculate how long the (highway) closure will be.”

Pass updates

See the WSDOT’s Stevens Pass report at http://tinyurl.com/ StevensPassUpdates.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.