July
3rd
Highway 7 closure could last until October
A five-mile stretch of state Route 7 that was closed by a slide on June 7 will remain closed through the summer, the state Department of Transportation reported Tuesday. The Eatonville-area closure extends from state Route 161 to Alder Lake.
Steep terrain and a still-unstable hillside are challenging geotechnical experts as they continue to assess how expansive the slide was and why it occurred.
Kevin Dayton, the transportation department’s regional administrator, said it’s likely a soil nail wall will have to be installed. Soil nail walls reinforce existing soil by installing threaded steel bars into slopes or cuts as …