Yellowstone roads closed!

[cptqueeg]

Got notice this morning that we should not show up for camping this Wednesday 6/15. Rain on snow event caused roads to blow out.

[agesilaus]

Mail


Say what you want about the Mail but they do shine when it comes to events like this. Lots of photos and videos of the event. Gardiner is heavily damaged and cut off, the Carabella bridge built in 1918 is washed away. I assume the BLM campground right near there is kaput. The flood waters were at 15 ft compared to the old record of 11.5 set in 1918, the year the Carabella bridge was built.

Red Lodge is flooded.

So it sounds like the north part of the park is going to be closed for a extended period. Bridges and roads heavily damaged. From what I've seen the NPS is very slow to repair damage compared to state governments who will have contractors working by the end of the week. The NPS will be lucky to get started before the snow flies.

Since this is of such general interest I posted this on other sites too

[wapiticountry]

The North Entrance road appears to be the most damaged area in the park. There is a back service road/track that goes thru the hills from Mammoth to Gardiner. There has been much local discussion about improving that road exactly because of this possibility. But there is a strong lobby against ANY construction within the park. They have stymied any improvements up to now. Realistically, that road should be improved to the point it becomes the primary entrance road. It isn’t as scenic as the road thru the Gardiner River Canyon, but it wouldn’t be subject to flooding and annual rock slides.
Another concern is highway 89 from Livingston/I-90 to Gardiner may have also suffered catastrophic damage. Water was multiple feet deep across the highway in Yankee Jim Canyon and a highway bridge over the Yellowstone north of the canyon had a washout on one end and it is unknown if the bridge has suffered structural damage.
There is also a significant threat of catastrophic flooding returning later in the week as more rain is forecast and will be accompanied by much higher temperatures creating rapid snow melt and huge runoff. All in all this could be close to a death blow to the town of Gardiner which is 100% dependent on summer tourism and Yellowstone Park.

[valhalla360]

afidel wrote:
It'll depend on what bridges were taken out, Yellowstone River bridge was slated to take 3 years to replace and that was with funding secured and a contractor lined up. I hope no major bridges were taken out but the flooding is the worst on record, beating the 1918 flood by many feet on several gauges. Seeing the Carbella Bridge washed away gives some idea of the conditions being faced in the area.

Long construction times are typically related to maintenance of traffic. If you have to keep traffic flowing, you have to do things in multiple stages and spend a ton of time on stuff that isn't actually rebuilding.

Let the contractor shut everything down completely and a bridge replacement can be 2-3 months.

In an emergency, there are ways around the normal approval rules.

This summer may have significant access limitations but I'd be willing to bet by spring/summer 2023, all the main roads are back open.

[afidel]

Yeah, it's going to be A long while

[time2roll]

dodge guy wrote:
It will not be several years! It will take awhile, but not that long.

Lately the natural environment takes precedence when rebuilding. No more backfill with gravel or concrete walls to redirect streams away from roadways. Could take a few years just for the architects to study the best plan. Then wait for funding.

Scotty's Castle in DVNP might open in 2023 after a flood in 2015.

https://www.nps.gov/deva/planyourvisit/conditions.htm

Certainly the undamaged areas will open sooner once traffic controls are in place to avoid hazard areas.

[afidel]

dodge guy wrote:

afidel wrote:
Looks like the north loop might be closed a long time, between roads washed out and bridges destroyed it could be several years to reopen.

It will not be several years! It will take awhile, but not that long.

It'll depend on what bridges were taken out, Yellowstone River bridge was slated to take 3 years to replace and that was with funding secured and a contractor lined up. I hope no major bridges were taken out but the flooding is the worst on record, beating the 1918 flood by many feet on several gauges. Seeing the Carbella Bridge washed away gives some idea of the conditions being faced in the area.

[Sjm9911]

It did not look good. Lots of flooding.

[dodge_guy]

afidel wrote:
Looks like the north loop might be closed a long time, between roads washed out and bridges destroyed it could be several years to reopen.

It will not be several years! It will take awhile, but not that long.

[Lwiddis]

I didn’t know. TY for posting.

[cptqueeg]

afidel wrote:
Looks like the north loop might be closed a long time, between roads washed out and bridges destroyed it could be several years to reopen.

Oh wow, guess we shouldn't count on our October reservations there.

[afidel]

Looks like the north loop might be closed a long time, between roads washed out and bridges destroyed it could be several years to reopen.

[agesilaus]

Local News and bad news at that