Hatcher Pass road closed for winter

HATCHER PASS — The road between the east and west side of Hatcher Pass is closed for the winter, marking the end of fall as a snowstorm quickly approaches southcentral Alaska. The Alaska Department Transportation and Public Facilities locked the gate at mile 17.5 just below the Hatcher Pass Lodge Thursday evening.

“We’re expecting a lot of snow and of course Hatcher Pass is fairly notorious for taking the vast majority of snowfall, so we wanted to close it. We didn’t want someone to get stuck up there over the weekend, so we wanted to close it now and then let people know that that’s what we’re doing,” said DOTPF Public Information Officer Shannon McCarthy.

The road will remain closed between milepost 17.5 on the east side and milepost 20.6 on the west side for the duration of the winter, closing Summit Lake off to vehicular traffic. The road closure was moved up after the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for many areas of southcentral Alaska beginning Thursday night.

“We’re just a little disappointed that our fall wasn’t a bit longer but I think people who love snow, and there are many of us here in Alaska, are ready for winter,” said McCarthy.