I-90 still closed; crews working to open two lanes to traffic

A major mountain pass in Washington state is suffering from bad rock slides just now, which has meant the closure of an interstate highway. See here for the latest news. (Or try www.nwcn.com later.) See also Snoqualmie pass alternate routes for a map showing where the closure is, as well as recommended alternate routes. Part of the problem is that crews responding to the initial slide found that the hillside had big cracks and it looked like more of it was about to come down. So what was to be a clearing operation also became a securing project.

According to news reports, about 26,000 vehicles a day generally use Snoqualmie Pass this time of year. The hope is to get at least one lane of traffic open in each direction by tonight.