Jackknifed tractor-trailer blocks Dalton at Mile 160; reopening planned Friday morning

A jackknifed tractor-trailer blocked the Dalton Highway in both directions at Mile 160 on Thursday night, according to Alaska 511. The state road-information service posted the closure at 9:31 pm and lists a planned reopening at 9:31 am Friday.

Drivers headed north or south on the Dalton should plan for the road to stay blocked overnight. Alaska 511 last updated the listing at 9:34 pm. It has released no information on injuries or on how the truck jackknifed.

Alaska 511 says its road-condition information is generally updated in the morning and again in the early afternoon, and more often when conditions change for some types of events.

The Dalton is the main road to the North Slope and carries freight bound for the oil fields, as Alaska News previously covered when a rain-triggered landslide closed it north of Coldfoot in July. When the state closed the highway for culvert work in September, there was no detour around it, Alaska News reported Sept. 20.

Trucks have shut the highway before this fall. A tractor-trailer blocked both directions at Mile 320, a spot Alaska 511 called "Oil spill hill," on Sept. 29, Alaska News reported that day. On Oct. 17, a disabled northbound truck closed the road near Gobblers Knob. That closure ended by 9:23 pm the same day, Alaska News reported Oct. 19.

Current status and road cameras are on Alaska 511's Dalton Highway page.