Crews start clearing Cascades highway

MAZAMA, Wash. – State road crews plan to begin clearing snow for what could be one of the earliest reopenings on record of Washington 20 through the north Cascades, officials said.

Transportation Department workers are set to begin clearing the North Cascades Highway, as the road is known, on Monday west of Mazama, the agency announced in a news release.

With only a foot of snow over most of the scenic road and four slides about 12 feet deep out of 11 potential slide sites, snow removal could be completed in record time this year, department spokesman Jeff Adamson said.

In years with normal snowfall and temperatures, road crews must remove seven to nine feet of snow on the road and avalanche deposits as deep as 70 feet in several locations.

Motorists should not expect a completely easy drive once the highway reopens, Adamson said. Delays should be expected as workers build a rock containment ditch between Diablo and Newhalem, where a rockslide closed the highway in November 2003.