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North Cascades Highway Opens Wednesday

Posted by Susan Elderkin at May 24, 2011 09:22 AM |
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The North Cascades Highway will reopen on Wednesday, May 25th at noon - the second latest opening in the road's history.

Finally, we have some good road news to report. Washington Department of Transportation will open the North Cascades Highway (SR 20) to traffic in both directions on Wednesday at noon.

If it seems like Highway 20 has been closed at long time, it has. May 25th will be the second latest opening in its 39-year history. It has taken more than six weeks to clear the highway of up to 75 feet of snow in places. Late spring snowfall - nine feet in March and 7.5 feet in April - hampered efforts even more.

The opening comes just in time for the Memorial Day weekend and will provide an alternative to east-west travelers, hopefully easing expected congestion on Stevens and Snoqualmie Passes. It is also a boon to towns and businesses along the route that depend upon the highway being open.

And while the road is open, many wonderful trails in North Cascades National Park that hikers can access from the highway still have a long way to go before they will be snow-free.

Comments

Great News!

Thanks for sharing the news! I hiked the East Bank trail at Ross Lake 2 weeks ago and had to walk 5.25 miles of Hwy 20, from mile post 134, to get to the trailhead. Kind of a pain! Glad the road is opening up...it will make access to the trails so much easier.

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"Trail Guy" on May 24, 2011 05:20 PM