US Hwy 2 Partially Reopening With Access To Stevens Pass

After nearly three weeks of enduring a near-50-mile closure, a portion of U.S. Highway 2 (US-2) will soon reopen to most vehicle traffic during daytime hours.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) says the highway, which has been closed from Skykomish (milepost 50) to Leavenworth (milepost 99) since Dec. 11, will be reopen from Scenic (milepost 58) to Coles Corner (milepost 85) on Monday, Dec. 29.

The 27-mile stretch of US-2 will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, weather and other conditions permitting, and revert to the full 49-mile closure between Skykomish and Leavenworth afterwards, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.

The highway was initially shut down between Index (milepost 35) and Skykomish on Dec. 10, and the closure was extended from Index to Coles Corner the following day after a strong storm moved through the region and caused a variety of blockages and damage to the roadway in several locations.

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Among the areas impacted by the storm were just east of Skykomish at milepost 54, where severe flooding caused major damage to the highway; over and adjacent to the summit of Stevens Pass, where washouts and landslides inundated the road and caused damage to its asphalt surface; and in Tumwater Canyon between Leavenworth and Coles Corner, where perhaps the worst damage was fraught by the storm, when it caused a large chunk of the highway's eastbound lane to become unstable and fall into the swollen waters of the Wenatchee River.

After being forced to wait out any additional impacts of another storm, which struck on the heels of the first system in the days that followed, the DOT was finally able to put crews to work doing emergency repairs last Thursday (Dec. 18), and they've now made enough progress on clearing debris and stabilizing a portion of the highway to allow vehicle traffic access to Stevens Pass Ski Resort from the east side of the Cascade Mountains.

To carry traffic onto the soon-to-reopen portion of the road, a detour will be established on US-2 at the eastern edge of Leavenworth utilizing the Chumstick Highway and State Route 207 to Coles Corner. From there, drivers will encounter reduced speed limits for the next 12 miles (until milepost 72) before being guided through an active work zone by a pilot car for the remaining eight miles to the resort area at milepost 64.

DOT officials say travelers should expect delays of up to an hour or more, depending on weather conditions, and should strictly obey all posted speed limits and hazard signs along the route, including on the Chumstick Highway, which is under the jurisdiction of Chelan County.

Although a little more than half of the section of highway that has been closed for the past 15 days will be reopening for 12 hours per day, US-2 will remain shutdown indefinitely for 14 miles on the west side of Stevens Pass between Skykomish and Scenic, and for 14 miles on the east side of Stevens between Coles Corner and Leavenworth.

The DOT says work to remove debris from a bridge just east of Skykomish began on Dec. 20, and officials are hopeful the highway could soon reopen between this location and Scenic, once crews can conduct an inspection of the bridge and do further safety assessments, which is scheduled to occur on Monday (Dec.  29).

Crews are also reportedly continuing their efforts to clear debris and work with bridge inspectors, geotechnical engineers and other specialists in other areas of US-2 to evaluate damages and develop repair plans.