The Richardson Highway has been closed since early Friday morning when a string of avalanches blocked it in two places. Today the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced that the highway will remain closed indefinitely.
Communications Officer Jeremy Woodrow from the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities said it is an inconvenience but services have been implemented to help with transportation to and from Valdez.
Woodrow: “From my understanding the City of Valdez sent out updates saying that additional flights were coming in to the town to alleviate some of the congestion there. And then the ferry system, which is a state run ferry system, we added additional runs and direct runs from Whitier to Valdez this week.”
One reason the highway has not been reopened is that when the slides occurred on Friday, a large avalanche in Keystone Canyon crossed the Lowe River creating a dam and flooding the valley upstream. According to Woodrow, the flooding has slowly been dissipating however is still too dangerous for crews to start removing the avalanche debris.
