Skagit Valley Herald
Highway 20 over the North Cascades will close for the winter at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
State Department of Transportation crews will close the gates at milepost 134 near Diablo and at milepost 171 near Mazama, according to a news release.
The gates will remained closed until the spring, when crews will begin clearing the highway of snow.
The closure comes as the avalanche chutes along the highway became full of snow, making travel along 37-mile stretch of highway dangerous, according to the release.
The highway will reopen in spring 2019.
Snowshoers, cross-country skiers, fat-tire bikers and snowmobilers can access the closed area throughout the winter with parking available near each closed gate.
Later this winter, the closure will extend by about 11 miles to save the money and resources it takes to clear that stretch of highway.
On the west side, the closure point will move to milepost 130 and on the east side it will move to milepost 178.
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