SEATTLE — Finally, travelers don’t have to go south into Oregon to get from one side of the Cascade Mountains to the other.
All three major Washington passes reopened Sunday, concluding a week of closures do to heavy snow and avalanches in the Cascades.
I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass, the state’s busiest highway through the Cascades, was the first to reopen, around 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning. White Pass was next, opening around 9 a.m., and U.S. 2 over Stevens Pass finally opened around 5 p.m.
White Pass briefly closed for about two hours Sunday afternoon following a snow slide that covered 80 feet of the roadway. Transportation crews had the road cleared by 6:40 p.m.
Travelers were unable to cross the mountains when Washington’s three large passes became simultaneously closed early Friday afternoon. About 72 miles of I-90 have been closed. The main detour called for travelers to go south to Oregon, then use Interstate 84 through the Columbia River gorge to get from one side of the mountains to the other. The long detour added several hours to the typical drive.
Transportation crews spent Saturday clearing snow and standing water from Snoqualmie Pass.
White Pass was closed for 57 hours, the longest closure of U.S. 12 since 1972. Crews used blowers and plows to remove more than 78 inches of snow from the roadway during the time the pass was closed.
Stevens Pass was the last of the major highways to reopen. Crews directed most of their efforts to Tunnel Creek, three miles west of the summit, and Tumwater Canyon, just west of Leavenworth. The area around Tumwater Canyon needed repairs to guardrails and rock fencing before the road could be reopened.
In Eastern Washington, most roads in southern and western Spokane County reopened after blowing snow forced a state of emergency declaration from Spokane County commissioners on Friday.
The Mount Baker Highway in Whatcom County also reopened Sunday morning.
For the second time in two weeks, snow slides have blocked Highway 20 between Newhalem and Diablo, cutting off access for Seattle City Light residents and workers in Diablo in the eastern Skagit River valley.
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