Load recovery brings intermittent Dalton Highway closures near Mile 7.5 Thursday night

The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities scheduled intermittent closures on the Dalton Highway near Mile 7.5 from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm Thursday for a load recovery, according to Alaska 511. Flaggers will be working to support the recovery, and the closures affect traffic in both directions.

The department asked motorists to travel with caution through the area.

The site sits near the southern end of the 414-mile corridor between Livengood and Deadhorse. The highway was built to support the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, and it remains the only surface route to the North Slope oil fields. The state took over the corridor in 1980. DOT&PF says heavy industrial truck traffic dominates the route today.

A full closure at Mile 6 for drainage work was scheduled for Sept. 22, and Alaska News previously covered that closure. A 2015 flood on the Sagavanirktok River washed out sections of the highway, closing it for 28 days and prompting two gubernatorial disaster declarations.