Storm causes Seattle Hill closure
Published 12:54 pm Friday, December 7, 2007
A key link across south Snohomish County is expected to be closed for up to five weeks as state workers make millions of dollars in emergency repairs because of flood damage.
A 25-foot-deep hole has formed beneath Seattle Hill Road, said Janice Fahning, a state Department of Transportation engineer. The hole, which was 40 feet long and 18 feet across, already spans half the roadway, and was still growing Tuesday evening.
It is the transportation department’s biggest flood-related road problem in Snohomish, King, Skagit and Whatcom counties, Fahning said.
“This is the highest priority in the region,” she said.
On Tuesday, Dec. 4, the state threw a team of more than 30 people at fixing Seattle Hill Road. They mapped out a plan to get environmental permits, buy supplies and hire a contractor. They hope to start construction early next week.
It will cost up to $5 million to fix the road, which on a typical day carries some 9,000 vehicles, Fahning said.
The road is closed between 125th Street Southeast and 60th Avenue Southeast. People who live in the area have access to their property. The road is off-limits to through traffic and commuters who use the route to shave up to 10 minutes off trips to and from Snohomish.
Traffic is being detoured to Cathcart Way and Lowell-Larimer Road.
The soil under Seattle Hill Road collapsed after water began to back up behind the road and overwhelmed the capacity of an 18-inch-diameter culvert. Fahning said the state still is trying to figure out what size replacement culvert to use.
The road is unsafe to drive over or to even walk on, said Meghan Soptich, a DOT spokeswoman. It will remain closed until repairs are finished. Concrete barriers are being put in place to keep vehicles out. There also will be state workers on-site around the clock to keep people away.
A motorcycle rider went around barricades and drove across the weakened road Tuesday morning.
“We really want to stress to drivers that, although it looks like only part of the shoulder is gone, there’s a hole under the road that goes all the way to the centerline,” Soptich said.
Any driver who passes a road-closed sign could be subject to a $411 ticket, said Rebecca Hover, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Department.
