KING COUNTY, Wash. -- Both directions of SR 169 at the Kummer bridge near Black Diamond opened at 6:10 p.m. Thursday, July 3, after crews finished emergency repair work, according to KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

Contractor crews worked day and night driving more than 30 specialized, slope-stabilizing nails to provide counter pressure to the loose soil. They installed a wire mesh net over the nails, then sprayed the entire area with Shotcrete, a special spray-on concrete.

The Shotcrete was strong enough to open one lane of the bridge to traffic Thursday morning. Testers checked the strength again Thursday afternoon and determined it was strong enough to support traffic in both lanes.

Significant movement in the landslide at the south end of the Kummer bridge prompted Washington State Department of Transportation to close the bridge last month.

Crews drilled core samples to assess the stability of the entire roadbed. WSDOT experts determined the weakness was limited to the soil under the northbound lane and could be temporarily fixed using specialized slope-stabilizing nails.

While the repair work stabilizes the road under the northbound lane, it does not solve the bigger problem of the landslide movement. WSDOT engineers are working on a plan to build a retaining wall parallel to the bridge to slow the landslide.

This work could begin as early as September and must be completed by mid-November due to heavy fall rains. WSDOT engineers have not developed a firm price tag for this emergency work.