Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, closed last night, Thursday 14th September 2023, due to incoming weather. Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in the United States, cresting at an elevation of 12,183 feet (3,713.38 m) above sea level.
According to a National Park Service Tweet, the road will close at 7:30 pm. Closures will be at Rainbow Curve on the east side and Milner Pass on the west side. Old Fall River Road will also close at 7:30 pm. Both roads will be reevaluated in the morning as to when they may reopen.
The NWS has issued a hazardous weather outlook, and the NOAA is predicting a 40% chance of snow.
Trail Ridge Road, the high road thru #RMNP, will close at 7:30 tonight due to incoming weather. Closures will be at Rainbow Curve on east side & Milner Pass on west side. Old Fall River Road will also close at 7:30. Both roads will be reevaluated in the morning (NPS webcam) pic.twitter.com/og5HYXRXFn
— RockyNPS (@RockyNPS) September 14, 2023
Trail Ridge Road opened for the season on May 26th, and usually closes mid-October. Last year, Trail Ridge Road closed for the season on October 24th, 2022. The first snow of the season on Trail Ridge Road fell on September 11th, temporarily closing the road.
To find the latest information on the road, call the park’s Trail Ridge Road recorded status phone line at (970) 586-1222.
According to Wikipedia, Trail Ridge Road is a stretch of U.S. Highway 34 that traverses Rocky Mountain National Park from Estes Park, Colorado, in the east to Grand Lake, Colorado, in the west. The road is also known as Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway.
The road is closed during the winter and often remains closed until late spring or early summer, depending on the snowpack. The road is the highest paved through road in Colorado. It is also the highest paved road in Colorado that crosses the continental divide (Cottonwood Pass at 12,126 feet is the second-highest, and Colorado State Highway 82 at 12,095 feet going through Independence Pass third-highest).
