ASHLAND, Oregon — The Oregon Department of Transportation closed Interstate 5 through the Siskiyou Summit at the California border Wednesday morning amid a Winter Storm Warning and what the agency describes as "extreme winter weather conditions" in Northern California.
ODOT's TripCheck map shows the entire freeway closed starting about two miles south of Ashland and continuing all the way to the border. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for much the area between Ashland and Redding through 4 p.m. Wednesday, warning of whiteout conditions and very strong winds.
There is no word on when the freeway will reopen; Trip Check describes it only as a long term closure. The California Department of Transportation's QuickMap and District 2 social media pages describe extensive I-5 closures in the area around Mt. Shasta.
ODOT traffic cameras north of the closure showed dozens of semi trucks lined up along the southbound freeway shoulder on Wednesday morning. Amtrak announced Tuesday afternoon that it would preemptively cancel all Wednesday service on its Coast Starlight trains in Northern California, Oregon and Washington.
There are no immediate alternatives to I-5, so anyone heading through the area is in for either a long wait or a long detour. The most immediate detour route, State Route 66 toward Klamath Falls, is also fully closed due to the weather conditions. State Route 199 from Grant's Pass out to Highway 101 on the coast is still open.
Detour routes toward Klamath Falls from further north are still open, such as State Route 58 from Eugene, but the main route across the border from Klamath Falls is US Route 97, and the Caltrans QuickMap also shows a full southbound closure on that highway about 20 miles south of the border.
