NEAH BAY — One lane is now open for alternating traffic through a massive slide on state Highway 112 between Neah Bay and Sekiu.
Crews will return to work on the slide Monday, said William White, maintenance lead technician with the state Department of Transportation, after another 1,000 cubic yards of earth and debris were hauled away Friday.
“We’re done for the day,” he said from the site at 5:30 p.m. Friday.
“It’s still a one-lane road” with alternating traffic, he added.
“We’ll leave it that way for the weekend” and return to work Monday, he said.
During the weekend, a Transportation road crew member was scheduled to be at the slide moving rocks that tumbled down and ensuring that the lane remained clear for traffic, White said.
Between 3,500 and 4,000 cubic yards of mud and debris had covered both lanes of the roadway in the slide reported at 4:46 p.m. Wednesday at Milepost 5, south of Rasmussen Creek.
The state Department of Transportation said one lane was opened by 9:45 p.m. Thursday.
The slide ripped up several hundred feet of guardrail, shattering the posts, and made a new shoulder for Highway 112 that averages 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, White said.
By closing both lanes of the road, the slide isolated the community of Neah Bay, where the Makah tribe provided a detour for only local traffic on a logging road.
