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NACHES, Wash. -- Yakima County is moving to obtain private property in the Nile to use as a new Naches River channel around a landslide that dammed the river.
The state Department of Transportation, meanwhile, hopes to gain access to private property by Wednesday -- and eventually buy it -- in order to build an interim road to replace the section of State Route 410 that disappeared under the massive slide more than a week ago.
Officials say that interim road will have to last at least a year until a permanent replacement is constructed.
Road efforts were bolstered by an announcement Monday that the federal government will provide $1 million in emergency funding to speed up the road construction.
The new section of road will be south of the existing Nile Road and will link to the state highway at the west end of the slide.
Nile Road is now the emergency access for residents in and out of the Nile area. The road has been raised about four feet to help protect it from river water.
Attorneys for the state and five property owners along the one-mile stretch of new road are working on agreements for the agency to begin moving dirt for the road, Don Whitehouse, regional administrator for the transportation department, said Monday.
"I'm hopeful I can get access Tuesday. I'd like to start Wednesday on the road," he said.
Efforts to buy the property will come later. The agency needs a 60-foot right-of-way to build the road.
While access issues remain to be resolved, funding issues came into clearer focus Monday.
Rep. Doc Hastings and Sen. Patty Murray jointly announced a $1 million emergency funding from the Federal Highway Administration to accelerate the road construction.
At the same time, County Engineer Gary Ekstedt said the county is seeking $1 million in low-interest loans from the state Public Works Trust Fund. The state loan program, with interest at 3 percent or below, would be used to pay for creating a new channel for the Naches River that can withstand high winter flows.
County and state efforts are being performed in tandem -- protecting the temporary emergency road and creating the new channel while transportation crews build the interim road.
Whitehouse said rock berms have been installed at the base of the slide to limit erosion and the threat of further slides. He anticipates the temporary road and channel work by the county will give him enough time -- 30 days -- to build the interim road.
"It looks like that will buy us the 30 days we need," he said.
Ekstedt said the county has acquired three properties and is working on others to create the new river channel. He said the county has obtained rights to enter another nearby property and is working on similar agreements for other downstream properties, including some structures on the Flying H Youth Ranch.
"We purchased those three to keep the river away from the toe of the slide so we don't induce more slides. We need to get as much river area created between the slide and the temporary road to allow some flood capacity in the river," he said.
County commissioners escorted Barb Lisk, district director for Hastings office, on a tour of the damaged area Monday.
Charlie Keller, spokesman for Hastings office in Washington, D.C., said the congressman is looking for all possible aid programs that could help the Nile area recover.
"We are in an information-gathering stage. The congressman and staff are talking to as many people as we can," he said.
* David Lester can be reached at 509-577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.
This story has been updated to correct information on the status of $1 million in low-interest loans being sought by Yakima
"...and eventually buy it.."
Do they really mean "condemn and confiscate"? I hope there are some trades allowed as replacement to these people.
What a sad thing to see someone lose their hard-to-come-by riverfront. However, I suppose it is always a risk when you bet on Mother Nature. It will be interesting to see if the gravel pit was really at fault, or they are just being anxious to lay blame somewhere as a human cause.
An even bigger shame is the cop-out by the Feds.
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