Get ready to be hammered again.
Highway 9 in Snohomish is not expected to reopen in time for this morning’s commute.
That means commuters in north and east Snohomish County who slogged through hours of delays Wednesday morning and evening should anticipate a replay today.
The Wednesday morning commute “was awful beyond belief,” said trooper Kirk Rudeen, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol.
The return home Wednesday evening was slow too, but not as bad “because people do other things after work” before they go home, said Travis Phelps, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.
Highway 9 was closed Tuesday evening after water topped nearby levees and started sweeping over the roadway. The river continued to spill over the two levees on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service doesn’t expect the Snohomish River to drop back within the levees until 10 a.m. today, said Kendra Nettleton. She’s part of the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers response team for this flood. More rain could delay that decline, she said.
Even if the river falls as expected, it could take a while for Highway 9 to dry out, because it is surrounded by saturated farmland.
The state Department of Transportation plans to rush to inspect and clean Highway 9 as quickly as possible.
“Once the water recedes, it’s only a matter of hours to clean up the road,” said Dave McCormick, the department’s assistant regional administrator for maintenance and traffic operations.
If there’s no damage, reopening the highway should just be a matter of scraping off any mud and silt from the road, he said.
The closure has forced Highway 9 drivers to detour to I-5, Highway 529 through Marysville, or Highway 522 from Monroe to Woodinville, Rudeen said.
“It took me an hour to go six miles” on U.S. 2 Wednesday morning, he said.
Matt Wright of Monroe was stuck on Highway 522 during the morning commute.
“It sucked,” he said. “With only two routes over the river, the traffic was bad. I started my commute at 5:15 a.m. and it took 30 minutes just to get on 522.”
The main highways were slammed, but so were all the feeder roads, Rudeen said. People’s secret short cuts weren’t so secret on Wednesday.
“Those were jammed up,” he said.
Marysville resident Mary Morrison’s shortcut – Highway 529 to north Everett – was a parking lot Wednesday morning.
“I left early because I figured I’d have problems,” she said. “It took forever to get out of Marysville. You’d go a car length, and then you’d stop.”
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@ heraldnet.com.
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