The large chunk of a mountain pass highway serves as a well-traveled commuter link between small towns in eastern Idaho and the tourist destination of Jackson.

A large chunk of a twisting mountain pass road collapsed in Wyoming, authorities said Saturday, leaving a gaping chasm in the highway and severing a well-traveled commuter link between small towns in eastern Idaho and the tourist destination of Jackson.

Aerial photos and drone video of the collapse show the Teton Pass road riven with deep cracks, and a big section of the pavement disappeared altogether. Part of the guardrail dangled into the void, and orange traffic drums marked off the danger area. The road was closed at the time of the collapse.

The section that failed first drew attention Thursday when a crack and drop in the road contributed to the crash of a motorcycle.

Geologists and engineers who were sent to the area that day noticed “that crack and that drop started to move a lot,” said Stephanie Harsha, a spokesperson for District 3 of the Wyoming Department of Transportation. A paving crew temporarily patched the road, and traffic began moving again that night.

But that was short-lived as maintenance crews were sent to respond to a mudslide a couple of miles away in the pre-dawn hours of Friday, prompting the road to be closed once again.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    633·
    16 days ago

    The transportation department said via social media that the road “catastrophically failed” at milepost 12.8.

    Boy I’m glad Biden’s infrastructure bill got watered down, aren’t you?

    • Snowyday@startrek.websiteEnglish
      34·
      16 days ago

      I’m sure all the extremist conservatives and libertarians living in that area will be happy to get by on their own without any government support

      Bootstraps!!

  • juice702@lemmy.world
    233·
    16 days ago

    Ugh, just think of those poor millionaires and billionaires of J-Hole without ‘the help’ readily available. How ever will they survive?

    • Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works
      20·
      16 days ago

      I’m feeling more for “the help” and their families.They’re the ones making the commute, who will either not be able to work or have their hours stretched by detours, or be stuck in whatever temporary accomodations they can find, with whatever childcare they can arrange back home.

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      6·
      16 days ago

      People serve those billionaires and those people are far from rich. In fact a lot of them have to live in subsidized housing because housing is completely unaffordable. It kind of sucks for those people. Other people have to commute from cities that might be in Idaho which means their long commute is now doubled.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      43·
      15 days ago

      If you’re a millionaire, what the fuck are you doing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming? Go live on Cape Cod or something.

      • SeaJ@lemm.ee
        8·
        15 days ago

        Well it is very pretty and has some of the best skiing in the country. And they’re are a ton of other millionaire and billionaires there so you can compare dick sizes with them.

    • PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world
      8·
      15 days ago

      Idaho is a place, not a person, nor even a group of racist people. In fact the Tetons are fucking beautiful and it’s a shame this road got destroyed. In general, the only way racists learn the error of their thinking is to meet foreign people, and actually gain an understanding of their humanity.