Rocks close one lane of SR 17 over weekend
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 months, 1 week AGO
Loose rocks closed one lane of SR 17 Friday to Sunday.
FILE PHOTO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | April 27, 2026 5:35 PM
SOAP LAKE — One lane of state Route 17 was closed for most of the weekend while Washington State Department of Transportation crews removed rocks from the cliff. The road originally was closed Friday evening and stayed closed until Sunday afternoon.
“Someone driving by noticed a rock leaning out of a bluff and contacted us,” wrote Sebastian Moraga, WSDOT communications consultant, in answer to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “Our WSDOT geotechnical experts assessed the situation, (then) our contractors scaled it.”
The northbound lane was closed at 5 p.m. Friday one mile north of Soap Lake, with drivers encountering alternating traffic, flaggers, slowdowns and delays. The lane was reopened at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“We trimmed it first, knocked down the loose rock and then had it hauled away,” Moraga said.
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