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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A mudslide shut down a mountain highway outside Cedar City and gave two Utah Highway Patrol troopers the scare of their lives.
The slide was triggered by an avalanche Friday that drove a battering ram of debris onto state Route 14 about 10 miles east of Cedar City.
It created another logjam about two miles downstream on Coal Creek.
Highway Patrol Lt. David Excell says the slide brought down a forest of debris about 300 feet wide.
Route 14 runs over a high plateau from Cedar City to snowbound Cedar Breaks National Monument and drops onto U.S. Highway 89 about halfway between Panguitch and Kanab.
Crews were working today to clear the two-lane highway, but parts of the road bed were washed away and it was pronounced unsafe for driving.
It could be a week or more before the road can be reopened.
Authorities say the mountain slope remains dangerously unstable and could release more slides.
State transportation officials plan to assess the damage on Monday.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
