SR 20/North Cascades Highway Closed for Winter
Heavy snow and avalanches mean the temporary closure is now permanent.
Nearly two feet of new snow and several snowslides, coupled with a weather forecast calling for more snow through the Thanksgiving weekend, prompted the Washington State Department of Transportation to permanently close the cross-state highway today, Nov. 20.
Crews temporarily closed the highway at noon Monday, Nov. 19, when snow began falling at the rate of more than two inches per hour, causing three snowslides.
“By this morning, we had 19 to 20 inches of new, heavy, wet snow,” said Twisp maintenance supervisor Don Becker. “That brings the total on the shoulders of the highway to 38 to 42 inches, and it only takes 2 to 3 feet of snow to fill up the avalanche chutes.”
Slides below the Liberty Bell avalanche chutes, just east of Washington Pass, dumped snow on the highway – the largest was 14 feet deep and 50 feet wide. Below the passes, heavy rain caused mud, rocks and trees to spill across the road.
“It’s just not safe for our crews or the public to be up on the highway,” Becker said.
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