Mount St. Helens viewpoint road to stay closed this year
Published 1:48 pm Monday, August 11, 2008
VANCOUVER, Wash. — High firefighting costs are being blamed for a long delay in fixing the road to a popular Mount St. Helens viewpoint.
Last week the U.S. Forest Service announced Forest Road 99 to Windy Ridge will remain closed through the end of the year. The viewpoint usually gets about 100,000 visitors a year, but the road was closed by a washout from rainstorms late last year.
The project is one of the biggest to be hit by delays in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.
Spokesman Ron Freeman explains that the Forest Service has frozen contract awards to help the agency cover a $400 million cost overrun in its national firefighting budget.
