Repairs underway after rain washes out sections of Mount Washington Auto Road

Repairs are already underway after sections of the Mount Washington Auto Road washed away. (Mt. Washington Auto Road)

Last summer, for the first time in its 160-year history, the Mount Washington Auto Road opened for the season as a fully-paved — top-to-bottom — roadway. It was a project nearly 50 years in the making for a New Hampshire attraction that brings tens of thousands of visitors each year to the 6,288-foot summit, the highest in all of New England.

One year later, runoff from recent rain and melting snow has washed out some sections of the Auto Road, specifically a 1.6-mile stretch from the summit at the ‘6 mile park’ marker. The Auto Road posted the astonishing images on its Instagram channel. 

Despite the damage, the Auto Road is still on schedule to open for the season later this month.

“Additionally, we still plan to host the last weekend of our ‘Spring Adventure Guided Tour’ on Saturday May 6th and Sunday May 7th,” the Auto Road posted on its web site. 

More than three inches of rain fell on Mount Washington earlier this week. 

“We were reminded yesterday about how powerful mother nature is,” Meghan Moody Schwartz, of the Mount Washington Auto Road, told WMUR-TV. “Between the heavy rain and snow melt, we experienced some damage at the top of the auto road.”

The lower mile-and-a-half of the Auto Road was paved two summer ago, and, as you might imagine, there is real effort that comes with paving the windiest and steepest roadway in the Northeast. Pavers could only bring a half load of asphalt with them each trip up the mountain, so everything becomes more complicated. The job takes longer, is more challenging, and needs a favorable window of pleasant weather in which to work properly. At the home of some of the most unpredictable climate conditions in the world, that can be a challenge onto itself.

Now, the Auto Road faces one more challenge prior to opening for the 2023 season.