MILL CREEK — Crews are working around the clock to repair flood-related damage to Seattle Hill Road, state officials said. Even so, the road won’t reopen until at least mid-January.
Raging floodwaters cut a 25-foot deep hole along a stretch of the road between Lowell-Larimer Road and 132nd Street SE last week, blocking a popular shortcut between I-5 and Snohomish.
The estimated 9,000 cars that use the road each weekday have been rerouted to Highway 9 and other detours. Traffic lights on Highway 9 have been adjusted to stay green longer to accommodate detouring traffic.
Putting in a new culvert, repairing and building retaining walls and filling in the hole is expected to cost $3 million to $5 million, said Janice Fahning, a state Department of Transportation engineer.
Snohomish County officials hope to get federal emergency aid to help pay for flood damage.
Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are reviewing county damage claims that, by the end of the day Wednesday, had climbed as high as $15 million, said John Pennington, director of the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management. That figure includes the damage to Seattle Hill Road.
Fixing the busy road is the top priority in Snohomish and King counties, Fahning said.
“This isn’t going to be an easy fix,” she said.
The 18-inch culvert that failed is set to be replaced with a box culvert that’s much larger, 10 feet wide and 5 feet high, she said. It needs to be that big to meet standards set by the state’s Fish and Wildlife Department. A small culvert can prevent fish from moving through it, according to state Fish and Wildlife officials.
The new 84-foot long culvert is being built in 12-foot long segments that will be assembled at the site, Fahning said.
The culvert, which was overwhelmed by near-record rainfall, was on a list of culverts that needed to be replaced, but revenue shortfalls and the rising cost of material and labor left the agency with no money to do the work, Fahning said. She said it’s a growing problem.
“We had to make tough decisions about how to prioritize our projects,” she said. “We’ve been limited to working to only a few of the most critical locations.”
Reporter Lukas Velush: 425-339-3449 or lvelush@heraldnet.com.
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