Town Of Alta Interlodge Lifted, Little Cottonwood Canyon Reopened
Feb 18, 2021, 11:04 AM | Updated: 3:07 pm
ALTA, Utah – A dayslong interlodge order has been lifted in the Town of Alta, authorities said.
Residents and visitors had been ordered to stay indoors as crews worked to control avalanche dangers in the area.
State Route 210 through Little Cottonwood Canyon reopened at 2:38 p.m. Thursday after crews finished avalanche mitigation and cleared debris from the roadway.
The length of the interlodge broke a record, surpassing the previous record of 52 hours set last year.
02/18 2:38 PM SR-210 is open to all traffic.
— Alta Central (@AltaCentral) February 18, 2021
The road through the canyon had been closed for about three days.
According to the Utah Department of Transportation, mitigation efforts were ongoing in the midcanyon area that required extensive debris cleanup.
Trent Meisneheimer with the Utah Avalanche Center said these conditions are rare. The UAC has been recording dozens of both natural and human-triggered slides all winter — including several that took the lives of six people over the last two months.
🚧 #RoadClosureUpdate 🚧 #SR210 IS NOW OPEN TO ALL TRAVEL.
Thank you for your patience during this multi-day road closure. Extensive avalanche debris clean up efforts from the @UtahDOT Road Ops Crew to continue. @UDOTTRAFFIC @AltaCentral @AltaSkiArea @Snowbird @UPDSL
— UDOT Cottonwood Canyons (@UDOTcottonwoods) February 18, 2021
Downhill travel resumed around 2 p.m., and essential uphill travelers were permitted to queue at the mouth of the canyon. That included employees, residents, rideshares and buses only.
Nonessential uphill travel resumed about 30 minutes after that.