Video: U.S. 26-89 landslide in action

While Yellowstone National Park road crews grapple with snow slides and road damage on Sylvan Pass, Wyoming Department of Transportation officials are waiting out a massive, slow-moving landslide between Hoback Junction and Alpine that has shut down U.S. 26-89.

This time lapse video, shot by WyDOT, shows the rock, mud and vegetation slowing sliding across the highway on Tuesday, May 17. It compresses 30 minutes of footage into 47 seconds.


According to WyDOT:

The slide is moving at a rate of about one foot per minute with an estimated 40,000 cubic yards of material currently covering the highway to depths of up to 40 feet. WYDOT crews began moving material off the highway Saturday, but by 10 p.m. they could no longer keep the road open. Contractors were brought in to assist Sunday, but by Monday it became clear that effort was only further destabilizing the slide above the road.

“For every loader of dirt we moved out, four more would come down,” said WYDOT District Engineer John Eddins. “No amount of equipment is going to be able to open the road until the slide stops moving.”

The transportation department website has more on the challenging situation.