Hurricane Mountain Road closes for winter

Hurricane Mountain Road has been closed for the winter.Mike Lane, patrol foreman for N.H. DOT said the decision was made earlier in the week and the road was gated Wednesday at 10 a.m. "We did it due to the changing and unpredictable road and weather conditions," he said. "I don't want to see a motorist get caught in an unsafe situation."Last week Bear Notch Road, another local access road, closed for the winter due to snow. Generally, according to Lane, these roads roads are closed the second or third week of November, usually for snow but sometimes for ice, and reopened the last week of April or early May depending on the severity of the winter. "In 1998 Bear Notch Road was open until Dec. 12," Lane said, "that's the latest to my knowledge it's been open, and Oct. 30, 2000, is the earliest closing date in the last 10 years since I've kept records of this. The conditions are too unpredictable on these roads to have an unsuspecting motorist get caught in an unsafe situation so we gate and or barricade them off, as they are not maintained for winter travel."