Trail Ridge Road Opens For Season But Night Closures Planned

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK, Colo. (AP) — Trail Ridge Road is open for the season but the scenic road through Rocky Mountain National Park will be shut down after dark for now.

All the snow that fell this month delayed plans to open the nation's highest continuously paved road for Memorial Day weekend. On Friday, the park announced the snow had finally been cleared but that the road would be shut down at 8 p.m. each night because of the danger posed by melting snow freezing at night.

Park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson says crews encountered snow drifts averaging between 18 and 22 feet high as they cleared snow this spring.

(credit: RMNP)

Independence Pass opened for the holiday weekend but the road to Mount Evans wasn't able to be cleared in time because of all the recent snow.