After late start due to snow, the Denali Highway is now open

Updated: May 21, 2018 Published: May 21, 2018

An RV meanders down a rough stretch of the western Denali Highway in September 2002. (Bradley J. Boner / ADN file photo)

After delays due to late spring snow, the Denali Highway is plowed and open for the summer, the Alaska Department of Transportation said Sunday.

The 135-mile highway was supposed to open on May 15.

But "above-average snowpack" and late spring snowstorms "significantly slowed plowing efforts," the Alaska Department of Transportation said Sunday.

The Denali Highway runs from the Parks Highway at Cantwell to the Richardson Highway in Paxson.

DOT crews had been working to remove snow, thaw culverts and make repairs along the highway since mid-April, the department said.

"Working from both ends, crews met up on the afternoon of Friday, May 18 at milepost 37, just east of Maclaren Summit, opening the road to through-traffic.," the DOT said in a news release Sunday.

Michelle Theriault Boots

Michelle Theriault Boots is a longtime reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. She focuses on stories about the intersection of public policy and Alaskans' lives. Before joining the ADN in 2012, she worked at daily newspapers on the West Coast and earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon.