JACKSON, Wyo. A large chunk of a winding mountain road collapsed in Wyoming, authorities said Saturday, leaving a chasm in the highway and severing a heavily traveled link between small towns in eastern Idaho and the tourist destination of Jackson.
Aerial photos and drone videos of the collapse show the Teton Pass road riddled with deep cracks, and a large portion of the sidewalk is completely gone. Part of the guardrail hung in the void and orange drums marked the danger area. The road was closed at the time of the collapse.
The section that failed first drew attention on Thursday when a crack and collapse in the road contributed to the crash of a motorcycle.
Geologists and engineers dispatched to the area that day noticed “that crack and that drop started moving around a lot,” said Stephanie Harsha, spokeswoman for Wyoming Department of Transportation District 3. A paving crew temporarily patched the road and traffic began moving again that evening.
But this was short-lived as maintenance crews were sent to respond to a landslide a few kilometers away in the early hours of Friday, causing the road to be closed once again.
Crews then noticed that the damage to the pavement had become more pronounced. Workers trying to figure out a detour on that stretch left overnight, “and at 5 a.m. this morning, WYDOT discovered the road had completely failed,” Harsha said Saturday.
“We were very, very lucky that no crew were injured. No equipment was damaged,” she said. “Now, engineers and geologists are carrying out geological assessments of the passage. They’ve been looking at it all day.
The transport department said via social media that the road “catastrophically failed” at milepost 12.8.
It was not immediately clear how long it would take to reopen the road, a vital artery for people who live across the border in Idaho and work in expensive Jackson, which is also near the popular Grand Teton National Park.
Harsha said an alternate route between Jackson and the Victor, Idaho, area is more than 60 miles out of the way and adds “a little bit to any commute.”
Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order declaring an emergency, which his office said would help the state access additional resources from the Federal Highway Administration to begin repair work.
In a statement, the governor said the transportation department is working on a “long-term solution to rebuild this critical road.”
“I recognize the significant impacts this closure has on Teton County residents, regional commuters and the local economy,” Gordon said.
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