Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Land around Deschutes Parkway continues to shift two weeks after the Nisqually Earthquake. State officials (from left) Peter Waugh, Steve Velandra, Tony Allen and David Schilperoort tour the area Friday. The road is off-limits from the Fifth Avenue bridge to Lakeridge Drive.

Parkway damage growing

Engineers fear it might be weeks before shifting stops

JOHN DODGE, THE OLYMPIAN

OLYMPIA -- Damage to the Deschutes Parkway from the Feb. 28 Nisqually Earthquake is a work in progress.

The ground continues to crack, slide and heave more than two weeks after the 6.8 magnitude quake, buckling the road ringing the west side of Capitol Lake.

Engineers monitoring the site see new fissures and sinkholes every day as the unstable, water-logged ground along the shoreline shifts and slides.

"I don't even know if we'll have a road here in two months," said David Schil-peroort, facilities senior planner with the state Department of General Administration.

"That's the hideous part -- it could still be going on for weeks and weeks," said Tony M. Allen, a geotechnical engineer for the state Department of Transportation.

The state agency has installed equipment along the 1.7-mile stretch of closed road to profile underground soil and water conditions.

"We need to figure out what's going on before we even think about repairs or opening the area up to the public," Allen said.

The road is off-limits to the public from the Fifth Avenue bridge to Lakeridge Drive.

Also on the no-trespassing list is Marathon Park. The restroom is askew, and the parking lot continues to shift and break apart.

"The whole park is still moving," said Edward Wittsie, a senior project engineer with the Olympia engineering firm of Jerome W. Morrissette & Associates Inc.

The damage from the Nisqually Earthquake bears an eerie resemblance to what happened to the road in the April 1965 earthquake, a 6.5 magnitude event.

"The soils are just as loose today as they were in 1965," Wittsie said.

Engineers hesitate to place a timetable on road repairs or reconstruction. In fact, there's no assurance yet that the road will be rebuilt.

It may be constructed on pilings anchored in solid ground 60 or more feet below the mushy, sandy soils that give way beneath the road during earthquakes.

It may be returned to a one-lane road with angled parking or a narrow emergency road for use by fire trucks and police.

Then again, the parkway could be converted to a pedestrian walkway devoid of a thoroughfare.

"All options are still on the table," Schilperoort said.

He said the $27 million estimate to repair Deschutes Parkway is just a ballpark figure to get in line for possible Federal Highway Administration earthquake aid.

John Dodge covers the environment and energy for The Olympian. He can be reached at 754-5444.

Quake repairs

Roughly $30.5 million in repairs are required on state roads, parks and trails in the Capitol Lake area to recover from the Nisqually Earthquake, according to the state Depart-ment of General Administration.

The repairs include:

- Deschutes Parkway: $27 million.

- Marathon Park: $3 million.

- Heritage Park: $200,000.

- Hillside trail (Capitol Campus to Capitol Lake): $200,000.

- Interpretive Center trail: $50,000.

All the figures are prelimi-nary, state officials emphasized.

On the web:

Department of General Administration.

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Earthquake stories archive.

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