Pierce - CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN BLVD
Project Number: 1640
From milepost 0 to milepost 6.1
RATA Funds: $4,200,000
Legislative District: 31
Status:
Date Approved: 2009
Pierce County filed an application with the federal government for the construction of a 6-mile long highway of variable width crossing federal lands within the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. The constructed roadway and the land upon which it is built belongs to the federal government. Pierce County entered into agreements to maintain the roadway and easement. The 60-year old agreements were re-established as anew Highway Deed in May 2008.
Crystal Mountain Boulevard East provides access to the Crystal Mountain Ski Area from State Route (SR) 410. Crystal Mt. Blvd also provides a primary west side access, west of the Cascade Mountain Range, to the Norse Peak Wilderness and the Pacific Crest Trail.
The Crystal Mountain route offers various attractions that typically generate traffic from recreational activities. Throughout the year, the recreational activities include photography, sightseeing, RV and backcountry camping, hiking, wildlife viewing, and spa/fitness facilities.
The economic benefits supported by Crystal Mountain Boulevard are associated with the recreation industry. This rural area provides many recreational activities, with the skiing industry generating the greatest economic impact from lift ticket sales to dining and lodging.
Catastrophic failure of a culvert or other road section would mean closure of the road until repairs could be made. Given the elevation and winter weather, an entire ski season could be lost. Crystal Mountain employs about 35 people full-time year-around. It directly employs about 340 people full-time during the 4 to 5 months of ski operations and another 335 people are employed by vendors and contractors during the ski season. The resort has a total economic output of about $40 million per year, with most of the impact occurring during the winter months when damaging weather conditions are most likely to happen.
Crystal Mountain contributes significantly to the rural economies of Enumclaw, Greenwater, and the surrounding plateau communities. Without Crystal Mountain Boulevard, the skiers would not have access to the ski area and the surrounding area’s economic activity would suffer. Floods in January of 2009 caused a four-day closure of SR-410, the main state highway used to access Crystal Mountain Boulevard and the resort. Resort owners estimate a loss of $1.2 million in revenue for the resort, not including losses associated to nearby restaurants, lodging and service providers, during that closure.
Crystal Mountain Resort can accommodate a maximum of 7,460 skiers at any given time. The Crystal Mountain Master Development Plan has a range of alternatives proposing to expand the facilities by adding new chair lifts, increasing restaurant capacity, adding new visitor and employee lodging, and expanding parking. The Master Plan proposes to increase skier capacity to as high as 11,020 skiers per day.
Pierce County spends approximately $17,000 per lane mile annually on maintenance of Crystal Mountain Boulevard East.
Seasonal freezing and thawing as well as extensive snow and ice removal efforts have stressed the roadway pavement over the years. Snowplowing exacerbates the extensive cracking, potholing, and patching. These unavoidable processes accelerate pavement deterioration. Heavy winter ski resort traffic, which makes up the greatest percentage of the annual daily traffic, further compounds these conditions. The guardrail throughout the length of this project needs repair due to damage from plowing and vehicle accidents during the winter.
The existing culverts that cross this roadway are made of corrugated metal pipe and are nearing the end of their expected lives. They were installed in the late 1960s and are showing signs of wear. Three of these culverts are 96-inch creek crossings for Silver Creek. This creek is the largest tributary that flows out of this area. The existing culverts are not large enough to carry the seasonal high flows, and are considered barriers to fish passage. Coho, Bull Trout, and Rainbow Trout are known to exist within Silver Creek. The ends are damaged because of high flows and are showing signs of age, which results in structural concerns.
A rock slide area is present between mile post 1.00 and 1.35. The rock fall and rock slide hazards are significant along this section of the road. The combination of road geometry and adverse rock structure in the existing rock cut presents a hazardous condition to the motoring public. The existing curved section of roadway presents limited sight distance and hence reduced reaction time for motorists.
Pierce County improved 6.1 miles of Crystal Mountain Boulevard East from SR-410 to Crystal Mountain Ski Area. This included 6.1 miles of roadway resurfacing with hot mix asphalt, replacing all existing guardrail, extensive rockslide protection work, and replaced three structural plate culverts with three-sided bridge structures.
Three existing 8-foot diameter corrugated metal pipe (CMP) culverts were replaced with concrete box culverts. The replacement box culverts have an opening width of 32 feet and a height that varied from 10 feet to 19 feet. The excavation depth required for placement of the three culverts varied from 22 feet to 38 feet.
Other project elements included removing and replacing approximately 4.4 miles of guardrail, 33,000 tons of hot mix asphalt, approximately $1 million of rockface protection work and 540 new snow pole markers.
Crystal Mountain Boulevard East provides access to the Crystal Mountain Ski Area from State Route (SR) 410. Crystal Mt. Blvd also provides a primary west side access, west of the Cascade Mountain Range, to the Norse Peak Wilderness and the Pacific Crest Trail.
The Crystal Mountain route offers various attractions that typically generate traffic from recreational activities. Throughout the year, the recreational activities include photography, sightseeing, RV and backcountry camping, hiking, wildlife viewing, and spa/fitness facilities.
The economic benefits supported by Crystal Mountain Boulevard are associated with the recreation industry. This rural area provides many recreational activities, with the skiing industry generating the greatest economic impact from lift ticket sales to dining and lodging.
Catastrophic failure of a culvert or other road section would mean closure of the road until repairs could be made. Given the elevation and winter weather, an entire ski season could be lost. Crystal Mountain employs about 35 people full-time year-around. It directly employs about 340 people full-time during the 4 to 5 months of ski operations and another 335 people are employed by vendors and contractors during the ski season. The resort has a total economic output of about $40 million per year, with most of the impact occurring during the winter months when damaging weather conditions are most likely to happen.
Crystal Mountain contributes significantly to the rural economies of Enumclaw, Greenwater, and the surrounding plateau communities. Without Crystal Mountain Boulevard, the skiers would not have access to the ski area and the surrounding area’s economic activity would suffer. Floods in January of 2009 caused a four-day closure of SR-410, the main state highway used to access Crystal Mountain Boulevard and the resort. Resort owners estimate a loss of $1.2 million in revenue for the resort, not including losses associated to nearby restaurants, lodging and service providers, during that closure.
Crystal Mountain Resort can accommodate a maximum of 7,460 skiers at any given time. The Crystal Mountain Master Development Plan has a range of alternatives proposing to expand the facilities by adding new chair lifts, increasing restaurant capacity, adding new visitor and employee lodging, and expanding parking. The Master Plan proposes to increase skier capacity to as high as 11,020 skiers per day.
Pierce County spends approximately $17,000 per lane mile annually on maintenance of Crystal Mountain Boulevard East.
Seasonal freezing and thawing as well as extensive snow and ice removal efforts have stressed the roadway pavement over the years. Snowplowing exacerbates the extensive cracking, potholing, and patching. These unavoidable processes accelerate pavement deterioration. Heavy winter ski resort traffic, which makes up the greatest percentage of the annual daily traffic, further compounds these conditions. The guardrail throughout the length of this project needs repair due to damage from plowing and vehicle accidents during the winter.
The existing culverts that cross this roadway are made of corrugated metal pipe and are nearing the end of their expected lives. They were installed in the late 1960s and are showing signs of wear. Three of these culverts are 96-inch creek crossings for Silver Creek. This creek is the largest tributary that flows out of this area. The existing culverts are not large enough to carry the seasonal high flows, and are considered barriers to fish passage. Coho, Bull Trout, and Rainbow Trout are known to exist within Silver Creek. The ends are damaged because of high flows and are showing signs of age, which results in structural concerns.
A rock slide area is present between mile post 1.00 and 1.35. The rock fall and rock slide hazards are significant along this section of the road. The combination of road geometry and adverse rock structure in the existing rock cut presents a hazardous condition to the motoring public. The existing curved section of roadway presents limited sight distance and hence reduced reaction time for motorists.
Pierce County improved 6.1 miles of Crystal Mountain Boulevard East from SR-410 to Crystal Mountain Ski Area. This included 6.1 miles of roadway resurfacing with hot mix asphalt, replacing all existing guardrail, extensive rockslide protection work, and replaced three structural plate culverts with three-sided bridge structures.
Three existing 8-foot diameter corrugated metal pipe (CMP) culverts were replaced with concrete box culverts. The replacement box culverts have an opening width of 32 feet and a height that varied from 10 feet to 19 feet. The excavation depth required for placement of the three culverts varied from 22 feet to 38 feet.
Other project elements included removing and replacing approximately 4.4 miles of guardrail, 33,000 tons of hot mix asphalt, approximately $1 million of rockface protection work and 540 new snow pole markers.