Is the Road Open?

Live whether Öxnadalsheiði, Víkurskarð and the tunnel are passable, slippery or closed — from Vegagerðin.

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Town Tools builds free, public tools for Akureyri and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Worth knowing

Öxnadalsheiði — the way to Reykjavík

The Ring Road (Route 1) crosses Öxnadalsheiði on the ~390 km run southwest to Reykjavík — a long day's drive. The pass closes repeatedly through winter, sometimes with avalanches, and clearing can take hours. When it's shut, the reliable link to the capital is the ~45-minute flight from Akureyri Airport, itself weather-dependent.

Víkurskarð and the tunnel east

The old pass east toward Húsavík and Mývatn, Víkurskarð, also snows up in storms. The tolled Vaðlaheiðargöng tunnel is the all-weather alternative and rarely closes — so a Víkurskarð closure usually means "take the tunnel," not "you can't get east."

How to read the condition

Vegagerðin grades each stretch on a scale from easily passable through spots of ice, slippery, snow and difficult driving, up to impassable/closed. Winter monitoring runs roughly November to April; outside that season most stretches simply read passable. This page shows a stretch only when it's worse than easily passable — so "the road out of Akureyri is open" with nothing listed is the normal, good state.