Zion National Park road closures by season.

Every Zion road on one timeline.

NPS sets no fixed opening or closing date for any Zion road. The Scenic Drive follows the shuttle, and the Kolob Terrace roads follow the snow. So the bars below are approximate: they place the months the park's wording gives, not dates to count on. The Scenic Drive bar is the window when you can drive it in your own car. The Kolob Terrace bars are the months those roads are usually open. No ticket or reservation is needed to ride the park shuttle.

Roads with no closing season.

Two roads have no closing season. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway (SR-9) runs from Canyon Junction through the tunnel to the East Entrance, and NPS says it works hard to keep it open year-round. It is still sometimes closed for snow, ice, rockfall, or traffic congestion. It stays open to cars while the shuttle runs, as do Kolob Terrace Road and Kolob Canyons Road, so a summer visitor can still drive much of the park. The Scenic Drive is the only road the shuttle closes. Our Zion shuttle guide covers stops and hours, and the parking guide covers where to leave the car.

Kolob Canyons Road is the one to read carefully, because the park's own pages disagree. The hours page lists Kolob Canyons Scenic Drive among the roads open to personal vehicles year-round. The conditions page says it closes frequently in winter but is open for most of the year, and the seasons page says access regularly closes in bad weather. Our reading: there is no closing season, but a winter storm can shut it. The drive is 5.2 miles from the visitor center at I-15 Exit 40 to Timber Creek Overlook. In winter, check the alerts or contact the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. before you head out.

Winter: the canyon opens to cars.

Winter is when you can drive Zion Canyon in your own car. Private vehicles may use the Scenic Drive only in the non-shuttle season, which NPS says is usually December through February. The current shuttle schedule runs into the end of November with reduced hours after October 25, then shows no service from November 29 to December 25. Shuttles run again briefly from December 26 to January 2, then stop until spring, typically March, so check the schedule before you plan a canyon drive over the holidays. When the road is open to drivers and parking fills, NPS may close it for a while, so go early.

Kolob Terrace Road usually closes for several months from fall to spring because of snow. The closure begins at Maloney Hill, about one mile east of the Hop Valley Trailhead, and the park's seasons page says it is the upper part of the road, including Lava Point, that closes. Lava Point Road closes most years from fall until spring.

Storms are the other winter factor. Nearly half of Zion Canyon's yearly precipitation falls between December and March. NPS says driving conditions can be very poor during a storm, but roads are usually plowed quickly after. Our Zion in winter page covers the rest of a winter trip.

How crowds follow the shuttle season.

The months you can drive the Scenic Drive are also Zion's quietest. January averages 23% of the visits of June, the busiest month, and February 25%. December, at the start of the car window, is 36%. March, when the shuttle usually starts again, jumps to 68%.

November, the last shuttle month, still averages half of June. If you want to drive the canyon in your own car and share it with fewer people, January and February are the months, and winter weather is the price. The best time to visit Zion guide weighs that against the rest of the year, and the January guide goes month-deep.

Big rigs and the tunnel.

Since June 7, 2026, vehicles over any of Zion's size or weight limits cannot drive the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway between Canyon Junction and the East Entrance. The limit covers that whole stretch, not just the tunnel. Per the NPS large vehicles page, a single vehicle's limits are 35 feet 9 inches long, 7 feet 10 inches wide, 11 feet 4 inches tall, and 50,000 pounds. With a trailer, total length is limited to 50 feet, and the trailer can be no more than 26 feet from hitch to rear axle. Measurements include mirrors, tires, and add-ons like bike racks and AC units.

The old tunnel permit, which had rangers hold traffic to one lane for wide or tall vehicles, ended on June 7, per Utah DOT. There is no permit to buy now. An oversize vehicle at the South or East Entrance is told how to turn around. The only exceptions enter at the South Entrance: parking in the large vehicle lot by the Zion Canyon Visitor Center if there is room, staying at Zion Lodge with a reservation, driving the Scenic Drive in the shuttle off-season, or camping at Watchman Campground, or South Campground once it reopens.

Heading east in a big rig means going around, and NPS names two detours. To Bryce Canyon, take Highway 20 north of Cedar City: roughly 150 miles and 2.5 hours. That is 63 miles longer than the route through Zion but only about 42 minutes slower, because the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway usually has speeds under 30 mph. To Grand Canyon's North Rim, take Highway 59 toward Jacob Lake: roughly 128 miles and just over 3 hours, 23 miles longer but only 10 minutes more. Our Zion camping page covers campground RV limits.

Common questions.

Can I drive through Zion National Park?

Yes, at any hour, on most roads. The park is open 24 hours a day, all year. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway (SR-9) crosses the park to the East Entrance even while the shuttle runs, as long as your vehicle is within the size limits. The exception is Zion Canyon Scenic Drive, which is shuttle only for most of the year. For whether a road is open right now, check the closure alerts at the top of the NPS conditions page.

Is Zion National Park open 24 hours?

Yes. NPS says the park is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, year-round. Roads are a separate question. During the shuttle season you cannot drive your own car on Zion Canyon Scenic Drive at any hour, including before the first shuttle and after the last one.

Is Zion open during a government shutdown?

Generally, yes. The current National Park Service contingency plan says park roads, lookouts, trails, and open-air memorials will generally remain accessible to visitors during a lapse in appropriations. It also says parks will not provide regular road or trail condition updates, and that an area must be closed if access becomes a safety issue, such as weather or road conditions. The seasonal pattern on this page does not change, but the alerts you would normally check may stop.

Where these facts come from

Road seasons, closure causes, the parking closure rule, the Maloney Hill closure point, the phone line, and the Kolob Canyons Visitor Center contact come from the NPS Zion current conditions page; the year-round road list from the NPS operating hours and seasons page; the shuttle season, the private-vehicle window, and the current shuttle schedule from the NPS shuttle page; the winter notes from the NPS seasons page. Size and weight limits, entrance exceptions, and detour routes come from the NPS large vehicles page; the June 7, 2026 start date and the end of tunnel permits from Utah DOT's Zion road restrictions page; the live SR-9 feed and cameras from Utah DOT's Zion road information page. The shutdown answer comes from the September 2025 National Park Service contingency plan posted on the Department of the Interior shutdown page. The road lines on the map are OpenStreetMap geometry between OSM nodes, routed by OSRM (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); they show where each road runs, not its closure gates. The Kolob Canyons Road length is that routed distance. Crowd numbers are five-year monthly means (2021 to 2025) of recreation visits from the NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package on NPS IRMA Stats. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.