wsdot snoqualmie rant

Let's see, it snows a bunch two weeks straight and every flatlander that thinks nobody can drive in the snow but them heads up here on top of the everyday traffic and you act surprised the road is one giant clusterf#*k?

Though I suppose it could have been worse. I had friends at Stevens who decided to head back east after they closed that pass going westbound. On their drive around through Leavenworth and Blewett they shut down Snoqualmie. It took them 7 hours to get home. Yikes. (Though I suppose distance/time, they actually did better than us overall)

We had friends go that route and get stuck in Cle Elum for 3+hrs, glad we stayed and waited it out. US2 closed down @3PM and while we were notified by 2:30 and could have made for a hasty exit, the continued snow fall and waist deep trees pulled us in the other direction. Luckily Steven's Pass decided to keep the lifts going late during the highway closure as the estimated 7 pm opening pushed back past 8 the lodges packed with people depleted all of the food and beer available.

We headed out @8:30 and it still took 45 min to get out of the lot and into <5mph traffic to Skykomish.  A few spooked drivers seemed content to cruise at or below 40mph and rarely get within 15 mph of an actual speed limit once we reached rain, 36 F, and wet pavement. ~2hrs to Sultan including parking lot shenanigans...... but totally worth those last 6 runs.  

Tires are key to this issue.  Way too many people skimp on tires in our climate that demands a hell of a lot from tires.

I drive an '05 Acura MDX with great all-season tires.  I buy new tires earlier than required by law.  Drove the identical SUV recently with crappy all-season tires worn down close to the limit, and the difference was absolutely shocking.  My car is phenomenal in the snow.  My car with bad tires is a nightmare in the snow.

There are a lot of reasons tires have nearly doubled in price in ten years - I think we see some of the effect of that in how many drivers are spinning out on the pass.

Can I rant about Stevens then? Right now it's is 100% legal to drive a Corvette on DOT race tires over Stevens pass and there is no visible pavement on any of the 4 webcams. They need to up the advisory higher more often.

We're all about the skiing here. But I expect that WSDOT is SERIOUSLY on the case of the Stevens and Snoqualmie ski area managers now, and the degree to which the ski area traffic is fucking with interstate commerce. The problem has become especially bad on Stevens eastbound in the AM when the in-line for the lower lots morphs into an all lanes roadblock. God help you if you're just trying to get OVER the pass.

I was parked last night in Easton for a couple hours, probably missed making it thru the control closure by 5 minutes. Guess it could have been worse based on stuck-in-Cle-Elum story. Drive over Blewett was not the easiest either but it was a joy compared to the 2 hour wait followed by manevering the jammed together pack crossing I 90 post closure.

Am really curious what results the Stevens DOT crew got that led to doing control at 3:30 in the first place and then the length of the closure. I'd have driven Stevens last night had I had that choice because it was clear from the outset that I 90 was going to be the mother of all CFKs.

Let's see, it snows a bunch two weeks straight and every flatlander that thinks nobody can drive in the snow but them heads up here on top of the everyday traffic and you act surprised the road is one giant clusterf#*k?

7" in 24 hours at pass level should warrant a 5 hour delay? Is this really reasonable? As has already been mentioned multiple times in this thread, there are other places with a much more extensive road network to manage that do just fine. It's possible.