SR 530 expected to open day after 6 month anniversary of Oso slide
Sep 22, 2014, 5:31 AM | Updated: 5:31 am
Contractor crews worked to build up the far western section of the new roadway to prepare to pave it and connect it the existing SR 530. (Sept. 5-8 2014) (WSDOT Flickr)
(Sept. 5-8 2014)
OSO, Wash. (AP) — The Washington Transportation Department says rain last week delayed the scheduled reopening to two-way, 50 mph traffic of a section of Highway 530 destroyed by the Oso mudslide last March.
The highway had been expected to reopen Monday. That’s been pushed back until Tuesday morning.
WSDOT spokesman Travis Phelps said that the contractor needs dry weather to finish paving and restriping the road.
The devastating slide wiped out dozens of homes and entombed 43 people when it struck March 22.
The DOT says that for the past two weeks, crews have been grading and paving the western half of the rebuilt roadway while pilot cars directed traffic through the work zone on a one-way, alternating basis.
The federal government is paying for the work with $28.1 million in emergency relief money.
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