The National Park Service continues work to repair a mudslide damaged portion of the road into Denali National Park. A mudslide last Saturday initially blocked the road at mile 67 west of the Eielson Visitor’s Center. The Park Service opened one lane of the road Sunday but passage has been restricted so crews can continue repairs. Park spokeswoman Lynn McAloon said the agency hopes to have the road fully open by Friday.
“The one thing that rally needed to happen that has happened now is that the coverts have been opened,” McAloon said. “They were blocked and so there was a lot of water coming right over the road. So the road itself was being channeled out by the water for a little while. Now that they’ve been able to divert that water back into the covert there’s the ability to be able to repair the road now.”
McAloon stressed that repair operations hinge on the weather, noting that the area has received extreme rainfall, including over 16 inches last month, which super saturated fine grain volcanic soils.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
