Stevens Pass and the Friday morning drive: slushy snow, closures, and the wait for roads to reopen

In western Washington, the day began with slushy snow and a familiar uncertainty for anyone headed toward the mountains: is the route still moving, or has it already stopped? For drivers trying to plan around Stevens Pass, the reality Friday morning was a patchwork of closures and delays across nearby highways as crashes, spinouts, and stuck trucks forced agencies to slow or shut traffic down.

What happened Friday morning on key highways near Stevens Pass?

Snow created treacherous driving conditions on mountain passes and in the Cascade foothills Friday morning. Around 7 a. m. ET, westbound Interstate 90 closed at Easton due to crashes. By 8: 15 a. m. ET, eastbound I-90 closed 20 miles west of the summit near North Bend because of multiple spinouts and crashes. The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) described a situation where traction and visibility could change quickly, leaving little margin for error.

Elsewhere, both directions of State Route 410 were closed at Mud Mountain Road due to snow on the highway near Greenwater. Fallen trees were also in the area, adding another hazard that can turn a slow commute into a standstill. WSDOT urged travelers to anticipate delays in surrounding areas as crews mobilized.

Eastbound State Route 18 also closed from the Issaquah Hobart Road to the I-90 interchange. Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson said multiple semi trucks were stuck, a detail that captures how fast conditions can overwhelm even heavy vehicles when the roadway turns slick.

And at 8: 30 a. m. ET, US 12/White Pass was set to close eastbound near Packwood and westbound near Naches for avalanche assessment, a reminder that road safety in these corridors is not only about what falls from the sky, but what can shift on the slopes above.

How are transportation agencies responding, and what should drivers do?

WSDOT indicated that snow plow crews were on the way as of 7 a. m. ET, signaling an active response even as closures piled up. Yet the limits of response were clear in the fine print of the morning: for State Route 410, there was no estimated time to reopen. The agency’s message was practical and blunt—seek alternate routes—while also warning that delays should be expected in the surrounding area.

That combination of action and uncertainty is often what drivers feel most sharply. Crews can be en route, but the road can remain closed as long as conditions keep producing crashes, spinouts, and blockages. When multiple semi trucks are stuck, as Trooper Rick Johnson described on SR 18, reopening is not simply a matter of plowing; it may require clearing immobilized vehicles and ensuring traffic can move without immediately locking up again.

For travelers building plans around Stevens Pass, the broader pattern Friday morning suggested that nearby corridors can shift rapidly from moving to closed. The safest choice is to treat the entire network as connected: a closure on I-90 or SR 18 can reroute more drivers onto fewer alternatives, compounding congestion and turning a detour into its own risk.

Why this matters beyond one stormy morning at Stevens Pass

The slushy snow of Friday morning did more than dust the landscape—it tightened the region’s transportation system into a series of chokepoints. Crashes at Easton, spinouts near North Bend, and closures near Greenwater and Issaquah illustrate how quickly a commute becomes an incident response scene, and how that scene ripples outward to people waiting in lines of brake lights.

WSDOT’s warnings to anticipate delays and seek alternate routes reflect the reality that not every disruption comes with a clear timeline. “No estimated time” is its own kind of forecast, one that forces drivers, families, and workers to make decisions without the comfort of a scheduled reopening. On a morning like this, the most important updates are not dramatic—they are operational: which lanes are closed, where crews are headed, and whether assessment work, like the avalanche evaluation on US 12/White Pass, is still underway.

By late morning, some drivers will still be waiting for a route to reopen or looking for a safer path home. The scene begins and ends in the same place: a road that looks passable until it isn’t, and a region learning again—mile by mile—how quickly winter conditions can reshape everyday plans around Stevens Pass.