Mountain Road Collapses Force Isolation, Long Commutes

Mountain highways around the country are facing growing threats from landslides and erosion, putting some communities at risk of being stranded and making commutes dramatically longer for some.

Writing in High Country News, Christine Peterson points to the collapse of Wyoming Highway 22 in Teton Pass in early June, which forced residents to take a 200-mile detour to reach jobs and services. “And Teton Pass is far from the only mountain highway that Western working families depend on. As infrastructure ages and the climate changes, many of these essential routes are more vulnerable than ever.”

With more traffic traveling them every day and changes in weather creating wear and tear, many mountain highways are straining under pressures not foreseen when they were first built. “Historically, highways like Teton Pass could count on solidly frozen ground from December through March, but in recent years, more ground has been thawing earlier, then refreezing and thawing again.”

According to Peterson, any solutions are difficult — and expensive. “Spending millions of dollars to prevent a road collapse is also a tough sell with county and state officials, said Daniel Aldrich, director of the Security and Resilience Studies Program at Northeastern University in Boston. To officials focused on managing tight budgets and pleasing constituents, preventative projects just aren’t sexy.” Aldrich recommends building community resilience and ensuring that affordable housing exists near jobs, “making mountain road closures an inconvenience instead of a crisis.”