Teamwork by Cascade bus drivers, county leads to swift road repair

LEAVENWORTH — A Cascade School District (CSD) bus driver’s early morning discovery of a sinkhole at the bridge on East Leavenworth Road prompted a swift repair by Chelan County crews, preventing potential damage to other vehicles driving the road.

“It was a good day to be a bus driver and feel like we were helping the county,” said Transportation Director Andrea Skylstad.

Skylstad said CSD bus driver David Wanhainen discovered the road damage during his early morning route on Feb. 24. Noticing the width and depth of the hole, which spanned both lanes, Wanhainen pulled over and relayed the situation to driver and temporary dispatcher Jose Solis, who then notified Chelan County Public Works.

“The drivers here are so skilled and so observant and care so much about kids, there's not a weak link on this staff,” said Skylstad. “It reminded me of that – how grateful I am to work for people who are so good at what they do and so conscientious and so committed to our community.”

According to Chelan County Public Information Officer Jill FitzSimmons, holes like the one on East Leavenworth Road are not unusual in the county. They can often form when dirt below the road, where it meets the bridge, sluffs away.

“That's kind of a problem area for some of these older bridges,” said FitzSimmons, noting that the December floods likely exacerbated the problem.

The county crew quickly closed the road, dug out both lanes, backfilled the area to restabilize, then repaved. The road was reopened in about four hours, before the bus returned students home that afternoon.

“That made everybody's life indescribably easier, that the county had everything fixed in such a way that this route that has around 50 kids on it, didn't notice any difference at all,” said Skylstad.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Cascade School District bus driver Jose Solis as Jacob. The story has been updated to reflect the correct name. Ward Media regrets the error.