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PROVO — Provo Canyon has reopened after separate avalanches led to the closure of both directions of U.S. Highway 189 on Friday afternoon, officials said.
The westbound lanes of Highway 189 were closed at milepost 12, about 3 miles northeast of Provo until around 8:50 p.m., Utah Department of Transportation said. Drivers in the area were told to expect delays, the agency said. Eastbound lanes were closed at milepost 8, at the eastern mouth of the canyon, UDOT officials said in a tweet.
Shortly after 8:45 p.m., UDOT officials said Highway 189 was reopened.
At 5:09 p.m., an interlodge order was put in place at the Hellgate area of Alta due to an avalanche, town officials said. Little Cottonwood Canyon will remain closed until Saturday morning at 8 a.m., officials said.
Mar08 Little Cottonwood is closed for avalanche control. Estimated Open 8:00am #utsnow
— UPD Canyon Alerts (@CanyonAlerts) March 9, 2019
There are no reports of injuries or any people caught in the Alta avalanche, Unified police officials said.
State Route 92 was also closed in both directions due to the Provo slide, Utah Highway Patrol officials said. The road reopened around 8 p.m. Friday evening.
The avalanche came down near the same area where a different, massive slide closed the road earlier this year, according to UDOT Spokesman Zach Whitney. The snow was about 30 feet wide on the roadway, he said.
No cars or people were caught in the avalanche, Whitney said.
State Route 158 reopened Friday afternoon after a Utah Transit Authority bus slid off the snowy highway about a mile away from the Powder Mountain Resort, forcing the road's two-hour closure.
No passengers were on the bus when it slid off the road about 10:45 a.m., no one was injured and the bus did not contact other vehicles, UTA spokesman Carl Arky said. An officer will investigate the scene, but weather was obviously a factor in the slide off, Arky added.
A crew was dispatched to clean up the crash and tow the bus, though those vehicles also had difficulty reaching the bus, KSL Traffic reports.
The road reopened about 1 p.m.
Ogden Canyon Highway closed in both directions about noon because of a rock slide in the area, according to a post on the Weber County Sheriff's Office Facebook page. There were no injuries or property damage reported. The road reopened shortly after 2 p.m.
Vehicles driving through Big Cottonwood Canyon must be equipped with four-wheel drive or chains.
As of 5:30 p.m. Friday, officials had investigated 146 crashes and slideoffs, UHP said on Twitter.
