Sen. Barrasso presses Forest Service on reopening Teton Pass after landslide; agency says it is expediting a bypass

Sen. Barrasso asked a Forest Service witness for an update on efforts to reopen Teton Pass in northwestern Wyoming after a landslide collapsed a stretch of the highway, severing the primary route between Victor and Jackson Hole and cutting access to Idaho, during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

Barrasso said a Wyoming Highway Patrol photo — published in The Wall Street Journal — showed the road "and then no road" where the slope gave way, and stressed the closure affects "thousands" of daily commuters and essential personnel, including hospital workers, teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, Grand Teton National Park employees and U.S. Forest Service staff. "The landslide could not have happened at a worse time of the year in terms of the summer tourism season," he said.

The issue has prompted state and federal coordination. Barrasso said he had been in contact with the Wyoming Department of Transportation and the governor, who declared an emergency and proposed a temporary bypass on national forest land to restore access while full repairs proceed. "We need the road to be safe, and made it open again as quickly as possible," Barrasso said. He also noted that, fortunately, no one was injured in the collapse.

An unnamed Forest Service official told the committee the agency has been engaged with Wyoming DOT since the incident and is assisting with damage assessments, strategic planning and local coordination. The official said two Forest Service districts — one on the Caribou-Targhee side near Victor and the other on the Bridger-Teton/Jackson side — are working with DOT and the Federal Highway Administration to help expedite recovery and to create a temporary bypass. "From the beginning we've been engaged with the Department of Transportation there and they've been really great to work with," the official said, adding that the agency is "doing everything we can to be a part of the recovery and a bypass there."

The Forest Service witness confirmed that the highway itself is a DOT right-of-way and said the agency is pursuing actions on adjacent forest land to enable a bypass while complying with legal and environmental requirements. The committee exchange ended with Barrasso thanking the agency for making reopening Teton Pass a top priority.

The Forest Service did not provide a timeline for reopening the highway or detailed engineering estimates during the exchange; committee members asked for updates and emphasized the need to balance speed with safety and compliance. Next steps described at the hearing included continued coordination among the Forest Service, Wyoming DOT and the Federal Highway Administration to accelerate temporary access while full repairs proceed.