That is going to be a bridge. very similar to what happened in Denali. They just pushed the opening of that bridge back another year. The year they open it will be a great wildlife viewing year in Denali because the wildlife has had 4 + years of no cars/trucks to move back down near the back half of the road.
Great skiing off Teton Pass, some of the best in the world. Sucks for people living in Victor due to cost of living. Just tripled their commutes.
Yeah, going to make life very difficult for many in that part of the state and you know this isn't a quick fix. I may be up there at the end of July, will be interesting to see how this impacts Jackson Hole area.
Off topic, but we loved the Jackson Hole area when we spent a few days there several years ago. We did some light rafting nearby with the family and loved the log cabin we stayed in. Had a great meal at Jenny lake and followed it up with a trip to Yellowstone. Enjoy.
We were just there in Feb/March this year. We stayed in Victor, ID, so we drove this pass almost daily. What a mess.... A huge number of people that work in Jackson live on the Idaho side and commute via this pass. The long route to the south (which we had to take one day due to a winter storm) adds a good hour each way. That's not just a road washout. The ground is just gone. It'll be interesting to hear if they can re-contour the road through the forest, or if a bridge/viaduct needs to be part of the permanent solution. I'm not an expert, but they've been quite warmer than usual, and snowmelt has been faster than what is typical. That has to be a factor...
it screams bridge. looks a LOT like the slide in Denali. Lot of geotech work to be done before they can even begin to design the bridge though
My old boss is a avid skier and has a beautiful place in JH, I don't ski but I wander up there quite a bit to hike. The loop around Jenny Lake and up into the Tetons from Jenny to get to the feeder lakes is amazing. I loved the rafting too (although that water is shocking when you first jump in). It's nice to have a free place to stay whenever I want. I guess I left that job in good standing.
There isn't any permafrost at Teton Pass. That usually only forms at elevations higher than 10K with continuously moist soil and the pass is only 8K feet or so. Not much of it in Wyoming anyway.
I would imagine there had been some frost heave under the road bed that weakened the ground underneath. That water expanded when frozen under ground then melted quickly leaving a void that gave way. Could have also been a rapid thaw created a faster run off that creates more erosion. Think a small steady drip of thawing snow / ice versus creating a stream or river from fast moving melt water.
Yep, in mountainous areas there is winter and then there is road construction/repair season. This will be an expensive fix.
No doubt. Remote areas are hard to get men equipment in efficiently and be supplied. Cracks in the roads allow the water to get into the sub base for the freeze thaw cycle to work it's magic. Hard to keep up with that kind of thing though.
https://www.idahonews.com/news/local/teton-pass-reopens-three-weeks-after-massive-landslide Thanks to a $6M grant from the Department of Transportation and its Secretary working with local officials, the Teton Pass reopened Friday. Competence matters.
Generally, not so much incompetence as needless regulations and too many palms to be greased. My suburban town has taken over eight years to widen an approximately 300 ft bridge.
Unfortunately, these are the sorts of things that people don't see or think about when they're wanting to blow things up. Competent governance matters. Once you break that, it's very hard to put it back together, and it can and will screw up a lot of important stuff.
