Teton Pass Landslide - Road closed indefinitely

[UTTransplant]

Plan an alternate route for the foreseeable future.

UPDATED: 'Catastrophic' failure on Teton Pass; WYDOT to rebuild section; no timeline available

UPDATE, 11:58 a.m.: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon met with state officials this morning from the Wyoming Department of Transportation and Wyoming Office of Homeland Security "to coordinate a response to

www.jhnewsandguide.com

 

[LarsMac]

THAT's gonna impact a few travel plans.

 

[tanglemoose]

Yes, and create a long commute for all the people whlibr in Diggs and work in Jackson! On top of tourism!!

 

[tlmgcamp]

Now that's a pothole!!

 

[DonTom]

Now that's a pothole!!

I wonder if there is enough room for one of my motorcycles.

-Don- (Colfax train station, CA, getting my free charge)

 

[CharlesinGA]

Clearly that was all built on fill dirt and a good highway engineer can probably look at those pics and tell you what was done wrong in the beginning (wrong kind of fill, poor compaction, whatever)

Charles

 

[Rene T]

Who’s going to dare to drive a dump truck next to that hole to dump a load of fill or whatever. I wouldn’t get within a 1000 feet of the edge of that hole.

 

[DonTom]

Who’s going to dare to drive a dump truck next to that hole to dump a load of fill or whatever. I wouldn’t get within a 1000 feet of the edge of that hole.

I assume nobody was on it when that happened. I would hate to have my 18K lb Class A on it-- with me inside--when that happened!

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[jackiemac]

I assume nobody was on it when that happened. I would hate to have my 18K lb Class A on it-- with me inside--when that happened!

-Don- Auburn, CA

Road had been closed as a crack was noticed then a mudslide a few miles further on.

 

[UTTransplant]

Yes, and create a long commute for all the people whlibr in Diggs and work in Jackson! On top of tourism!!

The Jackson area is so expensive that many people who work there live over the pass. There was an article about 50 school staff who couldn’t get to the schools and how alternative arrangements were going to be made.

Clearly that was all built on fill dirt and a good highway engineer can probably look at those pics and tell you what was done wrong in the beginning (wrong kind of fill, poor compaction, whatever)

Charles

It was not built on fill; it was built on a mountain side. That mountain began sliding a few weeks back, and it just finished the job. The state highway engineers say it will take a complete reconstruction so a quick fix seems to be out of the question. Luckily there was another small slide a few miles back that had closed the road.

 

[RRR]

I used to work for a smaller lumber company that specialized in clear softwoods with emphasis in vertical grain. We ran a route from Portland-Ketchum-Jackson weekly. I can attest to the traffic coming down Teton Pass even in the 1980's to 90's. Same with the traffic going north towards Ketchum on 93 from Twin Falls.

 

[Onyrlef]

I assume nobody was on it when that happened. I would hate to have my 18K lb Class A on it-- with me inside--when that happened!

-Don- Auburn, CA

I'm glad I wasn't there there on a skateboard.

 

[CharlesinGA]

It was not built on fill; it was built on a mountain side. That mountain began sliding a few weeks back, and it just finished the job

Clearly that is fill over a low area on the downslope. Video and Google aerial view. I think the failure at Milepost 15 was an actual landslide that overwhelmed the road and the culvert under the road, but this is layered fill that failed. WYDOT even titled the video "Big Fill Slide".

Charles