A landslide in the Teton Mountains wiped out part of the highway connecting Idaho with Jackson, Wyo., forcing officials to close the road indefinitely Saturday as the area enters the summer tourist season.
No one injured after part of Teton Pass “catastrophically fails,” Wyoming Department of Transportation said in a statement on Saturday. The highway west of Jackson was closed to traffic before the roadway gave way, and crews worked to create a detour around an area where the surface cracked days earlier.
A long-term closure is expected, the department said. Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon He said in a separate statement Geologists and engineers will “develop a long-term solution to rebuild the road.”
Even a short-term closure would pose major logistical challenges for the area, as the road serves Teton County’s main tourist hub, Jackson Hole. According to the Jackson Hole Travel and Tourism Board, Wyoming’s second largest industry is travel and tourism, and the county is expected to spend about $1.7 billion in travel-related spending in 2022.
“We understand that this highway is a lifeline for commuters, deliveries, access to medical care and tourism, especially with limited alternatives and summer upon us,” said Darrin Westby, director of the state Department of Transportation. He said in a separate statement.
The department’s “engineers, surveyors and geologists were quickly mobilized to try to maintain highway reliability as much as possible, but could not avoid a catastrophic failure,” Mr. Westby said.
Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce It said on its website Travelers can reach the Jackson area from the west via two other roads through the Snake River Canyon. But that detour adds more than an hour to the drive, according to local news outlet WyoFile reported.
A section of Wyoming State Highway 22 that collapsed was closed earlier in the week after cracks appeared in the surface. It is It reopened after crews repaired the cracks But later it was closed again A separate landslide A few miles away, the Department of Transportation reported mud and debris on the road.
The department said in its statement on Saturday that its crews were still working to remove the mud and debris.
