Mountain passes, more roads reopen
Snow crews continued digging out the southern and western reaches of Spokane County and Whitman County on Sunday and opened most major roads after high winds and drifting snow paralyzed travel during the past several days.
Main roads, including Highway 195 between Spokane and Pullman, have reopened, and workers are now plowing around the clock trying to clear secondary roads that have shut in farmers and other rural residents, according to county officials.
Some drifts in the Palouse were 10 feet to 12 feet deep.
Travel on hundreds of miles of little-used roads remains risky and officials have asked people to avoid driving.
On many roads, only one lane is open and officials urged caution.
Spokane County has 35 graders, 25 plows, 10 bulldozers from private contractors, and three industrial snowblowers working to clear snow.
Warmer weather has turned the powdery snow that drifted last week into a heavy dense pack that is slowing plows.
Also Sunday, officials said all three major Washington passes across the Cascades have reopened, concluding a week of closures due to heavy snow and avalanches.
About 72 miles of Interstate 90 had been closed, sending travelers south to Interstate 84 that runs through the Columbia Gorge in Oregon.
The long detour added about five hours to the typical drive.
Transportation crews spent Saturday clearing snow and standing water from Snoqualmie Pass.
White Pass was closed for 57 hours, the longest closure of U.S. Highway 12 since 1972. Crews used blowers and plows to remove more than 78 inches of snow from the roadway during the time the pass was closed.
Stevens Pass was the last of the major highways to reopen. Crews directed most of their efforts to Tunnel Creek, three miles west of the summit, and Tumwater Canyon, just west of Leavenworth. The area around Tumwater Canyon needed repairs to guardrails and rock fencing before the road could be reopened.
– Staff and wire reports
Spokane
S-R ethics code meeting is Feb. 20
A public meeting on The Spokesman-Review’s draft code of ethics has been rescheduled for Feb. 20.
The meeting will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the downtown Spokane Public Library, Room 1A.
The previously scheduled meeting was postponed because of snowstorms. Meetings in Spokane Valley and North Idaho have already been held.
A copy of the ethics code was published in the Feb. 3 edition of the newspaper and can be found online at spokesmanreview.com/ about/ethicscode/.
– Staff reports