Rebuilding the road that reconnects Oso, Darrington and Arlington begins with the people most affected by its absence. Together with Snohomish County, we have been working with those who lost loved ones and the communities and tribes affected to shape our plans for short-term access to and from Darrington and the clearing and rebuilding State Route 530.

Over the past several weeks, we’ve met with families, communities and tribes to listen to their priorities, concerns, comments and questions so that we could use that information to help us move forward. Based on those conversations, we were able to work with our partners at Seattle City Light to open the access road with a plan that fits within the needs of the community, such as daytime access for logging trucks, and around the clock availability for commuters. This short-term solution is a start. For many, this road is one small step back to a new normal.

Last night, we returned to Darrington to follow-up with the community as more work remains to fully reconnect Darrington in the long term.

Snohomish County updates
Snohomish County, in partnership with local geology experts, continues to monitor the slide area. Small pieces of the hill near the edges of the slide continue to slough off, which is expected. In addition, crews expect to complete their widening of the pilot channel for the river today, April 30. The new channel ranges in width from 60 to 80 feet. County engineers and river experts are studying at what the river will do this fall during high water flows, and how the slide has and will continue to affect fish runs. 

The Seattle City Light Access  road is open to LOCALS or those with business ties to local communities
Many folks are already seeing their commute times drop significantly now the emergency bypass road is open. We heard a number of suggestions going forward for how to manage the access road including revising the current schedule and watering down the road to prevent dust. Since this is Day Two, we are still keeping an eye on the traffic using the road to see if additional adjustments are needed. We will keep the local communities posted if there are changes to the schedule. Our SR 530 webpage will be updated with any new developments and provides information on using the access road.

Clearing SR 530
We provided an update on the contract for removing material from SR 530. That contract will remove roughly 90,000 cubic yards of material – which equates to nearly 9,000 dump truck loads of material, or 9 times the amount of concrete used to build CenturyLink Field. Bids close today and we hope to have a prime contractor in place by May 5.

Rebuilding SR 530
The long-term reconstruction of SR 530 is complex. The slide changed the entire geography and hydrology of the area. The river is in a different place and the soils around the roadway have changed considerably. All of these factors are being considered as we move forward in reconstruction. As a result, we will need to raise the height of the new road 10 to 20 feet in places to meet the new natural challenges of the area.

We will use a design-build contract for highway reconstruction. Part of the goal in that contract is determining a way to get people moving on the highway as it is reconstructed. Our goal is to award the contract by the end of May and have work start in early June. The beginning of that work will focus on the design of the new road and the goal is to open the road to both lanes of traffic by early October.

Why are we rebuilding SR 530 along the existing alignment?
Funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will reimburse rebuilding the road on its current alignment. If we built it elsewhere, we would need to find funding to do that work and that would take a considerable amount of time and legislative action.

In addition, the existing alignment is the best option relative to the river’s location and other areas where past slides have occurred.

Many have also asked if we can add shoulders and turning lanes. These are considered improvements to the road and may not be reimbursable. FHWA emergency funds allow for replacing a roadway as it was. This means, improvements must be agreed upon by both us and the FHWA. Raising the highway is also considered an improvement, however FHWA recognizes that the new road must be raised to accommodate the changes in conditions within the valley. We will continue to work on ‘betterments’ and update the community when we have news to share.

Local employment and contracting opportunities
There are a number of guidelines that we must follow to use federal funding. We know communities want the work to clear and rebuild the highway to remain local. While we can’t give preferential treatment to locals or incentivize prime contractors to hire local, we can work with prime contractors to create opportunities for sub-contractors. We will arrange a meet and greet forum for the prime contractors to meet with local interested subcontractors.

We know this is a priority to the communities and will continue to work on this important issue.
Please check our webpage to keep up-to-date with employment and contracting opportunities.

After the tragic landslide along SR 530 in the town of Oso on Saturday morning, search and rescue operations are underway for many unaccounted people in Snohomish County. SR 530 between Whitman Road (milepost 36) and 310th Street Northeast (milepost 39) is closed indefinitely. It’s likely a long-term closure.

A hillside gave way about five miles east of Oso, and north of SR 530 across the north fork of the Stillaguamish River. The affected area is about a mile wide and estimated to be up to 35 feet deep in places. The headscarp, the location on the hill where the slide began, is about 1,500 feet wide and 600 feet tall.

We are working closely with Snohomish County, Washington State Patrol and a number of other state and local partners in the emergency response.

Right now, it’s not safe for crews to go into the slide area. Silt is still moving from hillside, which is potentially hazardous to crews below. We’re helping clear some mud from the road to blaze a trail for rescue workers, but it’s too soon to tell how much damage has been done to the highway.

At the moment, geologists from several agencies including WSDOT are on-scene and monitoring the hillside for the safety personnel watching for further safety issues.

There are no good detour options around the portion of SR 530 affected by the mudslide. Those heading to and from Darrington need to use SR 530 to SR 20, and then take I-5. The detour is about an hour.

We also teaming up with Snohomish County to clear snow from Mountain Loop Highway. It’s a seasonal auxiliary road owned by the county and Forest Service that usually is closed in the winter. Once opened, the 25 mph gravel road will serve as an emergency route to and from Darrington. Crews working on the clearing effort reached the summit of Mountain Loop Highway around 11:30 a.m. today. Previous reopening estimates indicated the highway would open Thursday. There is potential that the work will be completed earlier than planned.

Currently, we are reaching out to potential contractors so we can start cleanup efforts as soon as possible. Governor Inslee declared a state of emergency late Saturday night so that we can apply for federal relief funds to cover the cleanup costs for reopening SR 530.The current slide is unrelated to previous work on the south side of the highway at Skaglund Hill. Between 2006 and 2012, our contractor crews installed a rock buttress along the south bank of the Stillaguamish River just below SR 530. This reinforced and stabilized the hillside. We also installed a series of drainage pipes into the hillside and a rock wall that cost $13.3 million.