JACKSON, Wyo. (NEWSnet/AP) — A chunk of a mountain pass road collapsed in Wyoming, leaving a chasm in the highway and severing a commuter link.

Photos and video show the Teton Pass road with deep cracks, and a section of the pavement is gone. Part of a guard rail dangled into the void. The road had been closed at the time of the collapse.

Geologists and engineers had noticed cracking and the drop started to move, said Stephanie Harsha, a spokesperson for District 3 of Wyoming Department of Transportation. A paving crew patched the road, and traffic began moving again that night.

Early Friday, crews were sent to respond to a mudslide a couple of miles away, leading again to the road’s closure. Damage had become more pronounced. Workers trying to determine a detour around that section departed for the night. By 5 a.m. Saturday, WYDOT realized the road “completely failed,” Harsha said.

The transportation department said the road “catastrophically failed” at milepost 12.8.

Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order declaring an emergency. That allows the state o access additional resources from Federal Highway Administration to begin repair work.

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