Project of the Week – SR 410 Near Chinook Pass Has Been Repaired Just in Time for Hunting Season

Date: November 2008

Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation

Job: SR 410 near Chinook Pass

General Contractor: Pile Contractors, Inc.

A slope washout that occurred last winter, three miles east of Chinook Pass, has been repaired and both lanes of the roadway are open to two-way traffic.

Since the spring reopening of Chinook Pass, drivers have been limited to oneway alternating traffic in the short section of the washout (three miles east of the summit). The eastbound lane was restored by constructing a steel and pressure treated wood retaining wall.

Pile Contractors, Inc, of Issaquah, accelerated the start of the contract and completed the work ahead of schedule. The $236,000 contract took two weeks to complete.

WSDOT closes Chinook Pass each winter, usually in the third week of November, due to high avalanche risk and hazardous driving conditions. When the snow storms start dropping large amounts of snow on the pass, the slide areas near the summit pose a significant danger to travelers, WSDOT maintenance crews, and Mount Rainier National Park staff.

The combination of avalanche danger, mountainous terrain, lack of cell phone service, inclement weather, and the low number of vehicles, make driving these passes in the winter a potentially hazardous endeavor. If someone had a problem, such as going off the road, it could be many hours or days, before anyone could find them, which could be fatal in winter weather conditions.