This is one location in the lower end of Phantom Canyon where road crews hauled thousands of cubic yards of fill material to repair a washout. The road in this section of Phantom Canyon is now in the best shape it's been in years.
Phantom Canyon Road in Fremont County which was closed last May following severe flooding has been reopened. Crews with the Fremont County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) spent six weeks doing extensive excavation work to repair the many washouts. FCDOT Director Tony Adamic said his crews hauled an estimated 18,000 cubic yards of rock and materials to repair the washouts. Adamic said there were 18 different sites in the canyon which needed repairs.
Fremont County Commission Chairman Ed Norden praised the work done by the crews saying that the repairs have greatly improved travel for motorists over the lower end of Phantom Canyon where most of the flooding damage occurred. Adamic said while the road was shut down for those six weeks it afforded crews to make other needed repairs to edges of the creek bank that had been eroding for several years.
Norden urged motorists to drive up Phantom Canyon and get a first-hand look. He said repairs to the washouts have actually left the road wider in several spots which should hold up better during future high water events. Final costs of the project are still being tabulated but Adamic said because the Bureau of Land Management allowed the county to excavate the road and fill material from within the canyon it should have reduced transportation costs for the repairs by about $200,000.
This location in Phantom Canyon reflects the worst of the 18 washouts that took place in the May, 2015 flooding.