Officials Hope US Highway 12 will be Repaired by Summer

WHITE PASS, Wash. (AP) — Washington state transportation officials are hoping repairs to U.S. Highway 12 will be completed by this summer.

The Yakima Herald reports crews have a plan to strengthen slopes, improve drainage and replace washed-out sections of the roadway over White Pass.

Traffic has been moving over the pass since single lanes were reopened Dec. 22.

Engineers are assessing the integrity of soil where large sections of the eastbound lane collapsed after heavy rain and flooding tore away slopes above and below the road and buried a section under rock and mud on Dec. 9.

The landslide and road collapse shut down a 27-mile stretch of the highway from State Route 123 near Packwood to just west of the Rimrock Tunnel.

Engineers are working on ways to shore up the road, build retaining walls, add more drainage points and possibly larger culverts.