Think your commute is dreary? Try driving through Dismal Nitch
Tuesday, February 8, 2011Posted by
Jeremy Bertrand
0 Comments
by guest blogger Abbi Russell
Dismal Nitch is a rural area on State Route 401 in Pacific County, about a mile northeast of where the US 101 Astoria-Megler Bridge touches down in Washington. It got its unusual name from the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Dismal Nitch is a rural area on State Route 401 in Pacific County, about a mile northeast of where the US 101 Astoria-Megler Bridge touches down in Washington. It got its unusual name from the famed Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The expedition was traveling down the Columbia River in the
winter of 1804-1805 when a terrible storm trapped them in a small, rocky cove.
They spent a miserable week there, hungry, cold and soaked to the bone. In his
journals, Captain William Clark referred to the place as “that dismal little
nitch,” and the name stuck.
Today the area is home to a national park and
one of our safety
rest areas. Both are inaccessible from the south at the moment, because SR
401 is closed due to threat of landslide.
Maintenance crews out of Naselle maintain this section of SR
401. After two small slides in the area last week, crews called in
investigators from our geotechnical staff in Olympia to take a closer look at
the hillside above the highway.
 |
| Landslide on SR 401 |
Investigations determined that a large portion of the
hillside was very unstable and could slide at any time. We immediately closed
the highway brought in an emergency contractor in for the job. Further
assessment determined that about 17,000 cubic yards of loose soil, rocks and other
debris has to be removed to stabilize the slope (that's about 1,700 dump truck loads of dirt)!
Battle Ground-based contractor Tapani Underground Inc.
started working Friday, Feb. 4. Crews will work daylight hours, seven days a
week. Repairs could take up to a month, and the highway will remain closed
until geotechnical experts determine that the slope is stable enough to allow
traffic through.
In the meantime, it’s a tedious commute for those living
north of the closure. They have to take a 30-mile detour on SR 4 and US 101 to
get to work and shopping in Long Beach and Astoria, Ore.
We never like to inconvenience people like this, but as they
say, it’s better safe than sorry. Nobody wants to get stuck under 1,700 dump-truck loads of dirt on the way home from the grocery store. That would turn a difficult
drive into a truly dismal one.
View more photos as crews work to clear the unstable dirt from the area.
View more photos as crews work to clear the unstable dirt from the area.
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