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SPRINGDALE — Rockslides in Southern Utah have caused multiple road closures, including the long term-closing of Zion Park Scenic Byway.
Zion National Park has closed the Zion Park Scenic Byway (also known as state Route 9) after active rockslides swamped the road and caused a retaining wall to fail, according to the Zion National Park Service.
The Scenic Byway was closed from Canyon Junction to the east entrance on Saturday night at around 7:30 p.m. after active rockslides blocked the road. The National Park Service re-evaluated Sunday morning and determined that the road would have to undergo a longer-term closure, as it was no longer safe for cars.
Due to the storm, access to the following locations has been revoked: Canyon Overlook, Keyhole, Pine Creek, Spry, Clear Creek, Fat Man’s Misery and Lodge Canyons, according to the National Park Service. Most other facilities are open, including all shuttle buses, campgrounds, visitors centers and the Kolob Canyons.
Zion Canyon has received 10.12 inches of precipitation since Oct. 1, compared to 2.77 inches in the same area and time frame last year, according to the National Parks Service.
“It’s all due to the freeze-thaw cycle," said John Gleason, spokesman for the Utah Department of Transportation. "We’ve had a pretty extreme winter with a lot of storms, especially the Moab area, where we had a big slide today. ... You have the cooling down and the heating up, and all of that can really cause rocks to jar loose, come loose."
In the Moab slide, officials said five to six rocks the size of motor homes tumbled down onto the Upper Colorado River Scenic Byway (state Route 128) early Sunday morning.
"This is a big one that’s going to take our crews several hours to clean up. They’ve had to bring out the drills, and we’re going to be blasting some of the bigger rocks so we can make them into smaller rocks so we can cart them away,” Gleason explained.
Utah Highway Patrol reported that they are working to clear the boulders and may need to utilize explosives in breaking up the large ones once smaller rocks have been removed.
Contributing: Sean Moody, KSL TV
