Stunning photos show 'catastrophic failure' of Wyoming's Teton Pass

[AnrothElf]

JACKSON, Wyoming — A roadway along Teton Pass, just west of Jackson, has disintegrated and washed down the mountain side Saturday, after separate incidents closed the route twice over the last two days.

Wyoming Department of Transportation shared the section has "catastrophically failed, and a long-term closure is expected."

Officials way they were working to construct a detour around the damage, "but the landslide continued to move, taking out the whole road."

This is the same area where workers put a temporary patch on the road, after a large crack appeared across both lanes of travel, dropping 8 inches in some places, according to a press release. The geology department was said to be investigating the cause and monitoring the area, but that section of road was opened later Thursday.

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Read more: https://www.ksl.com/article/51037256/stunning-photos-show-catastrophic-failure-of-wyomings-teton-pass

CRAZY!!! That's one helluva big hole to fill and steamroll.

[2naSalit]

1. In some places on that pass...

It a 10% grade, been over it a couple times in a large car and many times in smaller ones.

[AnrothElf]

4. Yikes! Driving down must be hellacious.

Especially if people don't know about down-shifting and braking before the curve.

[2naSalit]

6. You definitely...

Have to have a total grip on the whole scene all the way up and down. It's a long "walk". The first time I went over in a big unit, I raced a cyclist the whole way, they left me far behind on the way down. And there's a big hook curve near the bottom, by Wilson, on the Wyoming side.

I went over that pass, a long time ago, with my mom and nephew in an RV. It was late in the day and a few miles from the top, a moose jumps out onto the road with her calf and trotted along side us for a moment, looked in the window at my mom and she freaked. My nephew was pretty young and wasn't thrilled either but I also could not stop on the way up on a 10% grade. I was only going about 18mph. Fortunately the moose mom had mercy on us and took a quick exit over the guardrail, where she seemed to be headed and we made to the other side in one piece.

Fun times on that road.

[AnrothElf]

9. Gods... that gives me the shivers. I've BTDT so many times on other passes. But 10%?!

10%?! Really!?!?

Fuck that noise.

Man... flatlanders just don't get mountain roads. It's scary to be near them. I try to keep my distance, but there's always someone who wants to drive up your ass.

I used to drive Rabbit Ears Pass on the daily for work and saw easily dozens of accidents soon after they happened, or as they were happening. Almost always it was multiple vehicles, because people drive too close on mountain roads. Especially in winter.

Spread out! Survive the drive! Have fun when you get there!

[2naSalit]

11. Yeah, I hear you.

I'm too close to Jellystone so I get touron overload before July even gets started. Almost anywhere I go involves a mountain pass and tourons.

[jimfields33]

10. I've never been on this road. But I was on a similar in LA

up to San Francisco. Scary as heck. It was a night too. I didn’t know and was scared out of my mind.

[magicarpet]

2. Oh just give a bus load of three year olds,...

.. a plastic beach bucket and shovel. Give them a few hours and they will repair that road in no time.



That is a shit ton of sand that slid away taking the road with it.

[AnrothElf]

3. Gonna take for.ev.ER to plug that hole.

That's a big 'un!

[magicarpet]

5. What do they do ? Drive wooden piles into the backfilled area of

... the hill that supports the road so it does not slip again in the future ?

It seem that piles driven deep enough would offer stability and support again future movement or slippage.

[AnrothElf]

7. Too big, I think. Probably no option but to fill more than the last time.

If there was a landslide, it was because the piling was too tall for it's footprint, or unstable for some other reason.

If the material used was substandard, it might've compacted over time, resulting in instability -- even if the math was right on paper.

No doubt there will be a cursory investigation that is swept under the right-wing rug because it led to corruption.

[2naSalit]

8. That whole area is vertical.

I don't have time at the moment, I have to go to dinner elsewhere, but I have, I think digital, pictures of the area, mostly all steep forested slopes. I'll see if I have any I can post.

[niyad]

12. Oh, does this bring back memories!!! Many years ago, I was driving with a friend

on one of our "days off" drives around Lake Tahoe. Somewhere near Incline Village, I noticed an odd, long crack running down the far right-hand lane. I pointed it out to my friend, but we really did not think too much about it. That night, when we got back, we discovered that, not very long after we had driven that section, a huge chunk had collapsed, leaving not quite 2 1/2 of the four lanes. Not nearly as bad as what we are seeing at Teton Pass, but unnerving, to say the least. Repairs took a while.

[pansypoo53219]

13. a recent train series on PBS showed a landslind mae a train track unusable + had to fimd a way up the mountain on the

darjeeling train in india.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

14. "The geology department was said to be investigating the cause"

that's just what hills do, they slump