WYO 70 over Battle Pass opens for the season

SARATOGA, Wyo. - Maintenance crews with the Wyoming Department of Transportation reopened the seasonally closed section of Wyoming Highway 70 today for the summer season.

Crews from Saratoga and Baggs started work on the 23-mile stretch of highway in mid-April, using multiple rotary plows and other heavy equipment to clear large drifts of snow.

The highway is one of several high-elevation mountain roads in Wyoming that closes annually in late autumn when relatively low traffic and deep snow accumulations render plowing operations impractical. This season, the route, which tops out at 9,955 feet as it crosses the Continental Divide at Battle Pass, closed December 5.

Because of this year's earlier-than-usual opening date, motorists through the scenic highway should use caution; severe weather is still possible at higher elevations in late spring, including heavy, wet, intense snowstorms.