Making I-90 more weatherproof will take time

Once again, the weather has humbled everyone when it comes to getting a loaf of bread or jug of milk across the state.

For the second year in a row, Interstate 90, the Pacific Northwest’s most vital east-west link, has succumbed to rain, wind and snow, creating a logistical logjam for shippers on both ends of the state.

Help is on the way. But it’s not going to be immediate and that has some wondering whether the idea of extensive tunnels to reduce rockfall and avalanche dangers was taken off the table too quickly because of costs.

Others wonder whether a federal economic stimulus package could bring money for an expanded project.

Clearly, however, there will be no quick solution.

Businesses and private travelers lose an average of $17 million annually because of weather-related travel restrictions on the interstate.

The figure jumps when the road closures multiply. Last year, for example, losses hit what is believed to have been a record of $28 million.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said this season could yet top last year. “We’re shaping up again to have a record breaker,” said Warnick, a member of the House Transportation Committee.

At any rate, businesses will have to factor in the cost of unexpected travel delays for the foreseeable future.

“We’ve been telling folks that it’s still going to rain and snow up there,” said Brian White, the I-90 project director for the state Department of Transportation in Yakima.

“We can make the road more reliable but we can’t control Mother Nature.”

Work will start this summer on the first leg of an improvement project at Snoqualmie Pass. Completion isn’t expected for at least six years.

An additional lane will be added in each direction in the five miles between Hyak and Keechelus Dam. Chain-up areas will be extended and the snowshed will be widened.

Unstable slopes will be bolstered, sharp curves straightened and bad pavement replaced. New fences will aid avalanche control and wildlife will be protected by building passages over and under the highway.

Warnick said the good news is that construction of the first phase is on schedule and will start this summer. Even better news is that it’s funded: $545 million has been set aside from 2005’s 9.5 cent increase in the gas tax.

The remaining 10 miles of the project – from the dam to Easton – will cost about $800 million and hasn’t been funded.

There is at least the prospect that a federal economic stimulus package could qualify Snoqualmie Pass as a so-called “shovel ready” public project, speeding up the work.

But no one should count on that, said Rep. Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, who spent a day earlier this week touring flood-ravaged parts of his district.

“No one knows really what that means at this point,” Hinkle said.

Warnick believes tunnels ought to get a second look as a more permanent solution to unpredictable seasonal slowdowns. She’s seen them in Korea. “It’s amazing how well they can keep the traffic going,” she said.

Transportation officials dismissed tunnels early on in the planning process as too expensive, costing well over the estimated $1.5 billion total cost of the project. But Warnick said tunnels might pencil out over the long term.

“When you’re looking at $28 million lost in one year, it would be worth looking at.”