Driver killed as car hits utility pole

A woman, in her 80s, died just before 3 p.m. Monday when her car hit a utility pole near Eighth Avenue and Marion Street in downtown Seattle.

The woman's white four-door sedan rolled over in the intersection and she was killed immediately, police said. Police are investigating the cause of the crash.

Port Townsend

Lots of riders make ferry reservations

Monday was the first day that reservations were allowed on the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry, and business is booming.

By Monday afternoon, nearly 1,000 people had reserved a spot on the ferry, and officials expected all the reserved spots would be full for the Memorial Day weekend. "Phones are ringing off the hook," said spokeswoman Marta Coursey.

The state implemented its first domestic-reservation system because the two Steel Electric ferries that worked the route were taken out of service in November, leaving the run with a single smaller vessel leased from Pierce County.

During normal summers, the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry route would have two boats leaving the terminals every 45 minutes.

But with the route down to just one boat leaving every 90 minutes, ferry officials are worried about logjams at the terminals.

The state will take reservations for half the capacity of the 50-car boat. Although reservations can be made up to a month in advance, the ferry system also will accept same-day reservations.

Beginning Wednesday, passengers can make reservations online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries. To reserve by phone, call 888-808-7977 or 206-464-6400 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Wenatchee

Hwy. 20 expected to reopen today

Barring any unanticipated setbacks, the North Cascades Highway will open at 3 p.m. today.

The avalanche chutes are stable, and crews were cleaning and clearing snow off Highway 20 on Monday, said the state Department of Transportation (DOT).

DOT maintenance superintendent Dean Hills said avalanche crews found one large slide below Liberty Bell Mountain, just east of Washington Pass. Heavy, wet snow containing large rocks and tree debris was covering 200 feet of the highway to a depth of 25 to 35 feet.

The DOT closed the highway from Diablo to Silver Star Creek at noon Thursday when a snowslide covered the highway below Liberty Bell Mountain.

Highway 20 closed Dec. 4 because of avalanches and reopened after a six-week clearing effort on May 1.

Lake Chelan

Wheels were down on float plane

The Chelan County sheriff says witnesses saw the wheels lowered on the float plane that flipped on landing in Lake Chelan at Stehekin, killing two people.

Sheriff Mike Harum says the landing gear should not have been down for a water landing.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating Saturday's crash of the single-engine Chelan Airways DeHavilland Beaver that was a 15-minute charter flight from Chelan.

The pilot and two passengers escaped, but divers had to remove the two passengers who were killed.

They are 64-year-old William Stifter, a part-time Stehekin resident and Spokane heart surgeon who played defensive back for the 1965 University of Washington football team, and 67-year-old Roberta Pitts, the retired longtime superintendent of the one-room log schoolhouse at Stehekin.

Times staff and news services