Chiwawa River Road closed just past Atkinson Flat Campground, due to flood damage

Chiwawa River Road #6200, located on the Wenatchee River Ranger District approximately 39 miles northwest of Leavenworth, is closed at milepost 18.2, just past Atkinson Flat Campground, due to a rock and material debris flow that damaged the roadbed infrastructure and road drainage. Large vehicles and those pulling trailers are advised to turn around at Atkinson Flat Campground; there is no turnaround space at the road closure.

In early May, unusually warm temperatures, melting snow from heavy snowpack, and heavy rainfall from spring thunderstorms caused high water, runoff, mud and debris flows, and rockslides that damaged or blocked national forest roads. In some areas, including fire affected zones, plugged culverts resulted in additional road failures.

The debris flow on Chiwawa River Road #6200 deposited roughly 150 cubic yards of material on the northwest side of the Dry Creek Bridge causing 6-foot-wide and 2-foot-deep ruts along the route. Some of that material exited the road just above the bridge, this section is now heavily rutted. More of the material pushed across the bridge and down the road about a tenth of a mile depositing an additional 90 cubic yards of material and creating 3-foot-wide by 2-foot-deep rugged ruts in the roadway.

“The road is not passable to passenger vehicles and will need to be repaired to get any equipment with trailers over the debris and ruts. There is not a good location for a truck with a trailer to turn around at this time,” said Wenatchee River District Ranger Erica Taecker.

“We’ll need to repair the road prism and bridge approaches, luckily there is no damage to the bridge other than some rocks and debris that are blocking the bridge drain. We will be working to identify funds to repair the road in this next budget cycle, however, it could be at least next year before repairs can be made due to other contracts and projects currently underway,” Taecker said. For more information, please contact the Wenatchee River Ranger District at 509-548-2550.