Richardson Highway reopens to one lane of traffic after flooding closure

The Richardson Highway was reopened to one lane of traffic Sunday after flash floods washed out the road in numerous areas a week earlier.

Drivers were able to use one lane of the highway by following a pilot car Sunday, but delays of at least 30 minutes are still expected, said Danielle Tessen, an information officer for the state transportation department.

A roughly 16-mile section of the highway was closed June 11 south of Delta Junction due to flash flooding. A large section of the Bear Creek bridge washed out.

[Alaska pickup driver survives 55 mph plunge into creek that washed out Richardson Highway bridge]

The closure was expanded over the weekend when drainage structures reached maximum capacity at Mile 200.4 near the Fielding Lake Access Road.

It wasn’t immediately clear when the roadway would reopen fully to both lanes of traffic, Tessen said. Water levels in the area were still high Monday, which hampered some repair efforts.

Repairs are expected to cost about $3 million, she said. The department is in the process of applying for disaster relief funds to help cover the cost.

Crews are making emergency repairs so the road can fully reopen, but additional work will be needed in the future, officials say.

The department has identifed areas that “are going to be bigger projects to come,” Tessen said, saying the agency wants to address the possibility of flash floods like those last week. “Right now we recognize obviously that area could use improvements to become more resilient to these types of weather events.”