Alaska 511 lists Sharon Street in Juneau as local traffic only over flooding risk

Drivers on Sharon Street in Juneau can expect local traffic only as the Mendenhall River rises. Alaska 511 posted the restriction in all directions, describing the limits as Emily Way to Killewich Drive in its event description and as Riverside Drive to Killewich Drive in its details.

The restriction took effect at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday and remains in effect until further notice. Alaska 511 last updated the listing, event 38598, at 11 p.m. that night. The state traveler-information service classified the event as a natural disaster and lists no full closure.

The National Weather Service has warned of flooding risk tied to the annual Suicide Basin glacial lake outburst. Nicole Barron, warning coordination leader at the National Weather Service forecast office in Juneau, told a Unified Command briefing Wednesday that the office issued a flood warning for a crest forecast Thursday morning, between 16.1 and 16.6 feet, expected between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The Army Corps of Engineers finished Phase 2 of the HESCO barriers along the Mendenhall River before the basin released. Unified Command asked residents in the Mendenhall Lake evacuation zone to leave their homes ahead of the expected flood. Ashley Heimbigner, communications director for the City and Borough of Juneau, is serving as public information officer for the 2026 Juneau glacial lake outburst flood.

Alaska 511 posts updates at 511.alaska.gov.