Update- Railroad Tracks Open; SR 14 is Back Open as Well
State Route 14 Landslide
Update- SR 14 is Now Back Open
Original Story-
State Route 14 is still closed after a thunderstorm brought significant rainfall causing a landslide near the Benton County and Klickitat County border.
The railroad track near the area also shut down but opened back up at 12:30 this morning.
The landslide caused parts of the road between Alderdale and Roosevelt to get ripped up and crews have been working around the clock to repave the road that was damaged.
Washington State Department of Transportation closed down a 67 mile stretch between Paterson and Goldendale immediately following the landslide.
Jay Chambers, WSDOT Supervisor, said it was like a tsunami area when he showed up Saturday afternoon after the landslide.
"I've been working for the DOT for 20 years," Chambers said. "I have never seen anything like this in my career."
Crews from WSDOT and Burlington Northern Sante Fe started cleaning up the area right after the landslide hit, and have most of the debris off the roadway and train tracks.
State Route 14 is expected to reopen at 7:00 P.M. Monday night after all of the repaving of the ripped up road is finished.
Amtrak service between Portland and Spokane resumed at 2:30 P.M. and the first train left Portland at 4:45 P.M.
Chambers said crews will be in the area for the next two weeks cleaning up, and that could cause significant delays to drivers traveling through.