OLYMPIA, WA – Last month’s heavy flooding inflicted at least $40 million to $50 million of damage on Washington’s highways, state transportation officials estimated to lawmakers Monday.
The state Department of Transportation has responded to dozens of locations due to flooding, officials told lawmakers. The state has signed 16 contracts for emergency repairs. A few more are still to come.
The cost figures the agency provided are preliminary.
“We’re still compiling costs, so it is a range at this point,” Steve Roark, the agency’s Olympic region administrator, told the House Transportation Committee.
It’s unclear how much federal funding will be available to cover those costs. Gov. Bob Ferguson will ask President Donald Trump for a major disaster declaration to open up funding.
The most notable example of infrastructure damage from the December storms is U.S. Route 2.
The highway, a major east-west crossing in Washington over the Cascades, was closed for over two weeks along a nearly 50-mile stretch between Skykomish and Leavenworth. Parts of the roadway collapsed entirely.
But the state has since reopened the highway on both sides of Stevens Pass for limited travel with temporary fixes. Permanent repairs will take months.
Specifically, work on the stretch of Highway 2 from milepost 58 to milepost 70 on the east slopes of the pass likely won’t be done until July.
The still-closed segment through Tumwater Canyon near Leavenworth could reopen by March. That work includes rebuilding the roadway embankment. Further work will then be needed over the summer when the weather is warmer. Transportation Secretary Julie Meredith has said there are more than 16 washed-out or damaged areas in Tumwater Canyon.
There’s currently a detour around this area using the Chumstick Highway, but officials caution that this is a rural county road and not a recommended route for cross-state travel.
On the western end of Highway 2, near Skykomish, the state is developing plans to replace a culvert and make other permanent repairs.
Repairs on other highways will also take a while.
On U.S. 12 near Naches, the “roadway was gone,” Roark said. He hopes to have the highway repaired by the end of the month.
Repairs to U.S. 101 south of Forks on the Olympic Peninsula are anticipated for the summer, at earliest. It’s an area prone to landslides. About 20 years ago, the state built a retaining wall to support the highway embankment.
“And we’re going to get to do it again,” Roark said, noting a “big section of roadway is moving into the Bogachiel River.”
U.S. 101 is open to alternating one-way traffic.
And similarly, on State Route 542, also known as the Mount Baker Highway, one-way traffic is getting drivers up to the ski area.
“There’s quite a bit of work to do here to restore the drainage and repair the roadway,” Roark said. “We anticipate getting that contract underway soon. I don’t have an estimated date I can give you for repairing the roadway, but the work’s going to get underway fairly shortly.”
This story first appeared on Washington State Standard.
