Chuckanut Drive closed in all directions near Pacific Rim Drive for rock slide clean-up

Chuckanut Drive is closed in both directions just north of Pacific Rim Drive after a rock slide early Wednesday left debris strewn across the road, the state Department of Transportation said.

Marqise Allen, a department spokesman, on Wednesday afternoon, couldn’t say precisely how long the road would be closed, only that it would be shut down overnight.

The slide was first reported at about 2:30 a.m., Allen said. Photos the department posted on Twitter show several boulders on the side of the road where the slide began. Smaller rocks and debris slid across to the other side, where a concrete barrier was also damaged.

The department’s geotechs determined the hillside was stable after the slide, Allen said, but workers will have to break up the large rocks and remove a tree that came loose before reopening the road. A bridge crew would inspect the damaged barrier once the road is open, he added.

The department did not set up an official detour for the closure, Allen said. Northbound drivers can turn east onto Colony Road and follow it to Lake Samish Road to access northbound Interstate 5, then take Old Fairhaven Parkway at exit 250 to 12th Street to return to Chuckanut Drive.

Southbound drivers can use a similar route, taking Fairhaven Parkway to southbound I-5 and taking exit 240 to Lake Samish Road to access Colony and return to Chuckanut.

About 2,300 vehicles travel that stretch of Chuckanut every day, Allen said.

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 12:15 PM with the headline "Chuckanut Drive closed in all directions near Pacific Rim Drive for rock slide clean-up."