18 December 2017

Landslide Closes Seward Highway Near Girdwood



(ANCHORAGE, Alaska) – The Seward Highway is closed at mile 105 due to a landslide. The landslide occurred this morning at 5:50 a.m. and is estimated to be 4 feet deep and 75 feet wide.
Water, rock and other debris continues to fall. Crews are currently focused on stabilizing the hillside above the slide area so they can work safely. Equipment is staged near the landslide and will be ready to clear the road once the slope is stable.
At this time there is no estimate of when the road will reopen, but it is expected to remain closed for at least several hours. Updated road conditions will be posted at 511.Alaska.Gov.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities oversees 242 airports, 10 ferries serving 35 communities, over 5,600 miles of highway and 720 public facilities throughout the state of Alaska. The mission of the department is to “Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.”
   

6 comments:

threecollie said...

Not good!

Rev. Paul said...

Not good at all, ma'am. I've mentioned that there's only one road in/out of Anchorage - so that means ALL of the northbound traffic from Girdwood, Portage, Whittier, and the Kenai Peninsula is at a standstill and sitting on the road.

Old NFO said...

Y'all aren't having any good luck with the roads up there this year, are you?

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev Paul,
Not good news! You and your family are all okay....does this mean y'all get to work from home.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

This happened on part of Highway 1 near San Francisco for a very long time at Devil's Slide. I believe they finally had to build a tunnel.

Rev. Paul said...

NFO - not so you'd notice, no.

Sandy, the slide area is well over an hour south of us, so we're entirely unaffected.

TB, the area here is a coastal highway. Mountain on one side, Turnagain Arm on the other. A tunnel would have to be a free-standing structure resembling a covered bridge, so it probably wouldn't work.