Red Mountain Pass, which has been closed since Monday will remain closed at least until Wednesday because of adverse conditions and high avalanche danger, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.
Red Mountain Pass closed about 11 a.m. Monday.
Coal Bank and Molas passes on U.S. Highway 550 north of Durango closed about 3 p.m. Monday, and reopened about 24 hours later with traction laws, a CDOT spokeswoman said.
The agency sent a news release about 3 p.m. Tuesday saying all three passes were closed, but the spokeswoman said only Red Mountain Pass would be closed overnight.
Lizard Head Pass on Colorado Highway 145 closed about 11:20 a.m. Tuesday, and reopened about 3 p.m. with chain law restrictions. Wolf Creek Pass on U.S. Highway 160 was closed Tuesday morning but reopened about 11:20 a.m. with traction laws.
A winter storm warning remains in effect until 6 p.m. for the San Juan Mountains, including the towns of Silverton, Rico and Telluride, according to the National Weather Service.
As if the pass closures didn’t limit transportation enough, the runway at Durango-La Plata County Airport also was closed Monday night because a cargo plane “exited the runway” on takeoff, said Tony Vicari, interim director of the airport.
The runway reopened shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday.
He said he expected some residual flight delays, but expected operations to get back to normal with the improved weather conditions.
The plane, a twin-engine turboprop for Alpine Air, which is a contractor for United Parcel Service, went off the runway about 7 p.m. It came to rest about 50 feet off the runway, Vicari said.
“My understanding is it never left the ground,” he said.
“Due to the long window of time that lapsed while we were in recovery mode, we fell behind in snow and ice control, and it was a bad time because we crossed the freezing point during that period, so we have icing conditions on the airfield,” Vicari said about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The airport sprayed deicing chemicals on the runway, but the snow and low temperatures continued Tuesday morning, delaying the opening, he said.
He added: “We haven’t had a single aircraft operation since 7 p.m. yesterday (Monday) when this occurred.”
The Federal Aviation Administration will investigate why the Beechcraft C99 left the runway. The aircraft was removed Monday night.
shane@durangoherald.com
