Million Dollar Highway
The stretch of US 550 between Ouray and Silverton that Colorado calls the Million Dollar Highway — cut into the cliff above the Uncompahgre gorge, over Red Mountain Pass, with no guardrail on the drop side. It is plowed all winter, and what shuts it is avalanche work, rockfall and mud.
Does Million Dollar Highway close in winter?
Open all year
There is no winter gate and no opening date to wait for — US 550 over Red Mountain Pass is kept open through the winter.
What closes it is avalanche control, slides, rockfall and mud, usually for hours or days rather than months. CDOT posts each closure as it happens on COtrip.
Conditions change by the hour on the high ground — check CDOT's status page before you drive. This page is trip-planning history, not road status.
The road itself
The name is local, not a designation: the state calls this the segment of the Skyway from Ouray to Silverton.
The drive
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Ouray
The north end, in the box canyon at the foot of the climb.
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The Uncompahgre gorge
The cliff section — narrow lanes, tight corners, no guardrail.
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Red Mountain Pass
The high point, and the reason the road closes when it closes.
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Silverton
The south end, where the Skyway carries on toward Molas and Coal Bank passes.
What's on the road
- This is a working avalanche corridor. Every winter CDOT and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center monitor and control 278 of the 522 known avalanche paths above Colorado highways, and Red Mountain Pass carries a set of mitigation units on the slopes above the road.
- Closures here are not seasonal, they are events: when the danger is high CDOT shuts the road at the avalanche path, triggers the slides deliberately, clears the debris and reopens.
- Summer closes it too. Severe flooding in July 2026 shut Red Mountain Pass for two days and stranded drivers between debris flows; CDOT reopened both directions at noon on July 31.
Nearby: San Juan Skyway · Alpine Loop
Million Dollar Highway is one of the roads on our scenic byway and seasonal road index — every road here, with its designation, length and winter in one table.
Where these facts come from
- CDOT Colorado Scenic and Historic Byways: San Juan Skyway
- CDOT: US 550 Red Mountain Pass avalanche control system
- CDOT news: US 550 Red Mountain Pass opens July 31 between Silverton and Ouray
Last checked August 25, 2026.
Million Dollar Highway: closing and opening questions
- Does Million Dollar Highway close in winter?
- There is no winter gate and no opening date to wait for — US 550 over Red Mountain Pass is kept open through the winter.
- What closes Million Dollar Highway?
- What closes it is avalanche control, slides, rockfall and mud, usually for hours or days rather than months. CDOT posts each closure as it happens on COtrip.
- Is Million Dollar Highway open right now?
- This page is the road, not its condition this morning. Colorado Department of Transportation publishes the current state of Million Dollar Highway, and that is the one to check before you drive.
Watching a spring trip? The opening watch board follows every road we keep a record for at once.