SR 410 Section Opens After 3 Years
Ribbon Cutting On SR-410
People who travel through the Nile Valley will no longer have to take a 20-minute detour.
Residents and construction workers applauded for the reopening of a section on State Route 410, west of Naches.
It's been almost three years since it was closed off to traffic after a landslide wiped out the road and destroyed several homes.
Nile Valley resident Harley Davidson lives down the river from where the catastrophe occurred and says he remembers watching the landslide unfold.
"It came down actually kind of slow. And I look down where the river used to be and I see part of this yellow line down there and I say 'you know, I think it's time to go,'" said Davidson.
Shortly afterward, the Washington Department of Transportation worked to construct a temporary bypass road to allow divers to pass through the Nile Valley.
The detour had a 35 mile per hour speed limit, and added 20 minutes of travel time.
As of 10:45 this morning, cars were allowed to take this new section of 410, instead of the old one that was built a few years ago, which residents say has finally brought peace to their neighborhood.
"We're thrilled that it's open, we don't have to drive 35 miles an hour from our home to get down here to the woodshed, just hop in the car and off we go at 55 miles an hour again," said Penny Adams.
"The residents that were on the detour route themselves, they had all of the 410 traffic that they had to deal with. And so now, this takes the 410 state highway through traffic away from their local road," said DOT Official Bill Preston.
Harley Davidson says he is fortunate to have not lost his home to the landslide three years ago, but his heart goes out to those who did.
"This valley sticks together so great. I mean if there is one little thing that goes on up here... People rally," said Davidson.
The construction project for SR 410 began in March and cost 9.7 million dollars.
The cause of the landslide remains undetermined.