WSDOT working hard to clear landslide blocking portion of I-5
Dec 28, 2015, 11:34 PM | Updated: May 7, 2016, 11:35 pm
You should expect delays getting back to Seattle if you’re traveling on I-5 New Year’s Eve.
One lane of northbound I-5 remains closed just north of Portland. Plans are in place to get it re-opened in about a month.
The right lane of I-5 just outside Woodland has been closed since heavy rains brought down the hillside Dec. 9. Boulders the size of SUV’s came down, along with mud, trees and other debris.
Tell us what slows you down each day
Over the last few weeks workers have brought down any remaining unstable materials and prepped the hillside for a permanent fix.
“We have geotechnical engineers who are continuing to monitor the hillside to make sure any movement is recorded and we can take that into consideration for long-term plans for stabilizing the hillside and reopening that third lane of I-5,” Washington State Department of Transportation spokesperson Tamara Greenwell explained.
Greenwell says the department is hiring workers and finding specialized equipment to begin stabilizing the hillside next week.
“What we’re working to do and working to get is equipment that will insert and grout about 50-foot long steel rods into the hillside and that will act as a stabilizer to keep the hillside from coming down again,” she said.
That work should take about a month. Greenwell says they hope to have all lanes of I-5 northbound re-opened by the end of January.
But if drivers are heading south for the holiday weekend, they will need to add extra time for the return trip to get through the closure.
Greenwell says the backups over the Christmas holiday were manageable.
