Juneau’s avalanche gates at Thane Road will be closed overnight after rapidly increasing ridgetop winds, the Alaska Department of Transportation says.<\/p>\n
ADOT issued the update Tuesday, March 24 at noon that Thane Road is now closed and will remain closed overnight. A re-evaluation is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n
A Facebook post from the Department of Transportation said the ridgetop winds “increased significantly earlier than forecasted, to the point at which avalanche hazard reduction became unfeasible using available methods.”<\/p>\n
The post adds that strong ridgetop winds are rapidly transporting new snow, which increases the likelihood of a natural avalanche reaching the roadway. If an avalanche happens and debris reaches the roadway, an extended closure may be necessary to safely remove debris once weather conditions allow.<\/p>\n
“Because these winds are forecasted to increase throughout the day, the road must remain closed for the safety of the traveling public,” the post says.<\/p>\n
Capital City Fire Rescue posted to Facebook that due to the closure, it means that emergency response access beyond the closure is limited, response times may be impacted in the Thane area and crews will respond as conditions allow and when it is safe to do so.<\/p>\n
The fire department urged people to not attempt to bypass the closure as the current conditions present a serious risk to the public and emergency responders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alaska Department of Transportation says re-evalution scheduled for Wednesday, March 25. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3361,"featured_media":131549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1077],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n