"Damalanche" is gone; Richardson Highway near Valdez, AK, reopened

[Blue_In_AK]

Amazing work by the road crews.

http://www.adn.com/2014/02/05/3308570/damalanche-is-gone-richardson.html

It's official: The Damalanche is gone.

The Richardson Highway near Valdez was reopened to traffic Wednesday morning after a series of massive avalanches shut down the corridor for almost two weeks.

"It's navigable for all traffic right now," said Jeremy Woodrow, spokesman for the Alaska Department of Transportation.

The highway opened around 10 a.m., five hours earlier than expected. The night before, state highway crews made strong headway clearing snow between mileposts 12 and 18, Woodrow said. The closure started Jan. 24 between mileposts 12 and 64.

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Over five straight days of work, an estimated 54 tons of snow was removed from the roadway, Woodrow said. Crews of 10 to 12 people worked around the clock, including through Super Bowl Sunday.

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[Kali]

1. holy crap that was a lot of snow!

the video is amazing

[hunter]

2. That is amazing.

The road's builders did an excellent job too.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I know.

I'm really surprised there wasn't damage to the road, especially with all the water that was dammed up behind it for a while.