Wind, ice delay Steptoe Butte tower work

Foundation has been laid for a steel communications tower on Steptoe Butte.

Work to erect a communications tower at the top of Steptoe Butte has hit a snag with weather.

“The entire time to complete the tower is about three weeks, but there is also the issue of winter coming in,” said Toni Droscher, state parks spokesperson.

Bob Schwent, electronic services division commander with the Washington State Patrol, said the tower is being constructed to replace a 50-year-old WSP tower which is damaged.

“We did emergency repairs, but the tower can’t be climbed,” said Schwent.

Schwent explained two of the tower’s three legs are cracked.

“That’s a primary communication tower there,” he said.

He said work has been done to remove weight from the tower to make it is as safe as possible for now, but the tower does ultimately need to be replaced. As for the new tower, construction has gone as far as the foundation.

“The foundation is laid. We got as much done as we could, but it’s too windy and too icy for tower guys to be climbing.”

Schwent said he now expects the work to be delayed until the spring. He also said if any work is able to continue in the next couple of months, there should not be any more road closures, because not a lot of heavy equipment will be moving on the road.

“If we have to go back up there, there should be no more road closures,” he said. “Maybe in the spring when we bring the crane out.”

When work does resume on the new tower, steel construction will begin, with some pieces being moved over from the old tower. The old tower will be completely removed by the time the project is complete.

“We will also repair the ground to the original condition there,” said Schwent.

Droscher said if there are any more closures the parks department is made aware of, alerts will be posted on the state parks website. She added that if there are any closures, they will only be during the week, so the state park site will remain open on the weekends.