It was a popular shortcut for people wanting to get up to I-5 from the valley in King County, but it was shut down by a mudslide earlier this year. Now, it’s a chokepoint.

Jerry wrote in to ask about the closures of 56th Place South and 58th Place South. They are small residential streets that hundreds of Boeing workers used to get from the Auburn facility up to I-5 or Military Road, without using Highway 18.

Mudslides closed the roads earlier this year.

Unfortunately, for drivers who used those roads as a shortcut up the hill, an assessment determined the potential project to reopen the roads was considered cost prohibitive, especially since there are other ways to get into the neighborhood.

The county decided against spending the money to make the roads safe and has no plans to reopen them.