by Meagan Lott

It’s no shock that Mother Nature calls the shots when it comes to the weather. This week we saw a grab bag of different kinds of weather from lightning and flash flooding to even a small tornado touching down in the Tri-Cities.

We try really hard to work around the weather and most of the time we can, but safety is our number one priority and earlier this week it wasn’t something we were going to gamble with.

On Tuesday, we planned to close Snoqualmie Pass for rock blasting at 7:30 p.m. Each blast takes approximately 5,000 pounds of explosives and in order to be ready for the closure, crews have start prepping the blast area early in the morning.

As we got closer to the 7:30 p.m. closure, the lightning meters we have installed on the pass started detecting lightning strikes within 15 miles of the blasting area. Then it jumped to just one mile. As part of Washington State Law (WAC 96-52-67055) and for the safety of drivers and our crews, we had to close the pass immediately. Unfortunately, this didn’t leave us much time to let drivers know that the pass was closing an hour-and-a-half earlier than planned.

Fortunately, we were able to detonate the explosives, clean-up debris from the highway and get the pass back open to traffic within an hour.

We apologize for those of you that may have been stuck in the closure, but again it wasn’t to cause an inconvenience, it was for your safety. In the four years we have been closing the pass for rock blasting, this is the first time we have ever had to close early due to weather.
In case Mother Nature throws us for a loop again, make sure to follow us on Twitter @snoqualmiepass, check us out on Facebook or visit the What’s Happening on I-90 Web page.

by guest blogger Amanda Sullivan

At the start of summer, we posted a video of one of our test blasts to give you a small taste of what would happen over the summer on I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass.    Over the past couple of months, crews have gotten into a nice rhythm and have been performing much larger blasts called production blasts.  These larger blasts sometimes mean more time is needed to clean debris from the interstate and inspect the slopes.  We wanted to show you all what goes into the rock blasting operations, from preparing the slopes, cleaning the road of debris, and, of course what everyone wants to see…the blast. It’s a carefully orchestrated event from the time crews drill the holes early in the morning to when the loaders are clearing the road of debris and our geotechnical experts are inspecting the slopes for stability later that night.  We do everything possible to reduce risk and keep drivers and our construction crews safe.   So, put on your hard hat, safety vest, glasses and boots and spend a day in the life of our controlled rock blasting crews. 



Crews are conducting rock blasting operations on the slopes adjacent to I-90 near the Lake Keechelus Snowshed (milepost 58) in order to widen the highway from four to six lanes. This means temporary one-hour closures of I-90 at 6 p.m. every Monday through Thursday. Due to the uncertain nature of rock blasting, the blasting closures could last longer and are subject to frequent schedule changes. We suggest you check our What’s Happening on I-90 Web page for up-to-date information on controlled rock blasting schedules and other construction impacts.  Crews will complete blasting and excavating the tons of rock from the slopes by the end of October.