Old Man Winter is doing a number on the westbound lanes of Interstate 90 west of St. Regis.

Montana Highway Patrol Captain Jim Kitchin said there was not just one but two avalanches that have closed the westbound lanes and kept traffic stopped at St. Regis since Wednesday afternoon.

“We’re trying to get the road clear so we can open up the highway,” said Captain Kitchin. “We just had a multi-vehicle crash at mile marker five east bound and we’re just clearing that one right now,” he said. “We had two avalanches up here. One near mile marker 33 and then we had another one right up on top of the pass at mile marker one, and that was the big one. They’re in the process of getting all that cleared out right now and DOT (Department of Transportation) will let us know when we can reopen the road. They have some trucks and some real big snow machines up here to try to clear off the road. We’ve got the county sheriff’s department and tow companies working with us, but the DOT’s going to have the final say on when we’re going to open it back up.”

Kitchin said those heading west can take an alternate route at St. Regis.

“They need to go up Highway 135 over to Highway 200 and over in Sandpoint, Idaho and then back down to the interstate,” he said.

Kitchen also added that more snow is expected on Lookout Pass.

More From 94.9 KYSS FM