Photo: Courtesy KOMO

EVERETT, Wash. - The race to clear a huge logjam threatening a major local highway near Everett is turning into a marathon.

“There’s an awful lot of pressure against the piers and then you get the swirling undermining that you can have on the piers as well, which is why we need to work as quick as we can,” said Clint Terwilliger, WSDOT maintenance supervisor.

One lane of eastbound U.S. 2 was closed on the trestle between Everett and Snohomish to make room for the crews and a giant crane that's being used to clear the jam, and it will stay closed until the work is done.

On Wednesday afternoon, the clearing effort hit a snag when crews had to pull the crane from service. The bucket of the crane was damaged and had to be re-welded, according to a WSDOT spokesperson.

They planned on having the crane back in service by early evening Wednesday. It was initially hoped that the work could be completed by midday on Wednesday, but now state transportation officials say that won't be possible. They warned motorists that the eastbound lane will remain closed through Thursday morning and possibly longer.

Meanwhile, local residents say they've never seen a logjam this large at the trestle before.

John Cannon of Lake Stevens tells KOMO News that he has seen some minor logjams at the trestle in past flooding events - but never anything on the scale of the one that's there now.

"We were coming across the trestle ... and looked over and were just shocked by what we saw," he says. "I've never seen - I mean, we come over almost every day - and this was pretty spectacular to look over and see. ... Typically when it floods there will be some trees, but ... you don't see a big jam like this, and I think that's what took us by surprise. This is just huge."

Tuesday's floodwaters sent the logs speeding down the Snohomish River, and now they are clogging the waterway near U.S. 2 where it crosses Ebey Slough. The floating tree trunks, limbs and other debris are putting pressure on the pilings that hold up the roadway.

Crews from the state Department of Transportation are working as fast as they can, bringing in a giant crane other equipment to clear out the logs before they cause significant damage. Other crews are pulling logs through using boats.

This article first appeared on KOMO NEWS.