Marine Drive landslide work will bring a 12-mile detour

Published 1:30 am Monday, May 7, 2018

STANWOOD — A chunk of Marine Drive between Stanwood and Warm Beach will be closed this summer for landslide repairs, sending drivers on a 12-mile detour.

A normally 5-minute drive will be quadrupled.

Snohomish County Public Works is planning to reconstruct the embankment and repave the roadway in the 23000 block (milepost 1.2), south of Norman Road and about a half-mile south of Hatt Slough.

It’s a relatively small project in terms of dollars, at $1.3 million. But dollars don’t always equate to the actual impact on those who use a road.

The trouble spot has been prone to slides. In 2016, maintenance crews noticed the embankment started to move again. Lanes were shifted and the speed limit was reduced while planners came up with a more permanent solution.

“Safety is a big part of what Snohomish County is working toward,” said Charlie Green, design group manager. “So we do appreciate the public having patience during the road closure and look forward to completing this project and having a long-term fix.”

Work will involve digging out and removing the unstable soil, project manager Oscar Fuentes said. A reinforced slope will be created from new fill material that provides a better foundation for the roadway, which will then be rebuilt over top.

Once the project is complete, drivers shouldn’t notice much of a difference from how the road appeared before. The 40 mph speed limit also will be reinstated.

Construction will occur when conditions are drier. The work is expected to take six weeks and will fall sometime between the end of June and the beginning of September. The bid opening for the project is Tuesday.

Electronic signs will go up two weeks before the road is scheduled to close.

The detour route will be posted for around-the-clock use along Happy Hollow Road and the Pioneer Highway.

The summer schedule avoids altering school bus routes. But the work will impact those who commute by public transit.

Community Transit’s Route 240 connects Stanwood to Smokey Point. The agency is working out a plan, but it’s likely some stops won’t be served, spokesman Martin Munguia said. Updates should be posted to the website by early June.

Stanwood Mayor Leonard Kelley said the bus route changes will have the greatest impact on his city.

“We do have a fair amount of traffic that comes off Marine Drive in the morning to get up to Pioneer Highway,” Kelley said. “So there will be less traffic. And probably some of the espresso stands will suffer.”

At the other end of the closure, Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center will be sending campers and guests from up north information on alternate routes, general manager Patrick Patterson said.

Either way, it’s a scenic drive, he noted.

There are no other areas of slide concern on Marine Drive in that area, county spokesman Matt Phelps said.

The project is funded through the Snohomish County Road Fund.

For more information or to sign up for email alerts, visit the project website at snohomishcountywa.gov/4007.

Melissa Slager: streetsmarts@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3432.