A landslide near Ketchikan last week closed schools through Tuesday and cut off hundreds of residents as officials scrambled to install a temporary travel bypass.
The pile of dirt, boulders and debris tumbled onto the North Tongass Highway at Wolfe Point just north of the Ketchikan International Airport on Thursday morning with schools in session and at least some residents away from home. No injuries were reported.
The slide area cut off road access between the city and schools and an area to the north that holds at least 3,000 residents, as well as a Walmart and subdivisions around Shoreline Drive, according to Ketchikan Gateway Borough spokesman Anthony Pio.
The highway is Ketchikan’s only road between the city and the north end of Revillagigedo Island.
“There was no way around it,” Pio said of the slide this week. “It wasn’t like it was just inconvenient to go to a side road. There is no side road.”
State officials on Tuesday said rain was the main trigger for the slide. Nearly 2 inches fell at the airport on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
Ketchikan is no stranger to the destructive power of precipitation and unstable geology. A landslide last August killed a city worker and injured three other people.
Last week’s slide measured 80 feet wide and 80 feet high and included four huge boulders anywhere from 20 to 30 feet in diameter, according to Danielle Tessen, a spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.
It occurred in an area slated for a summer slope stabilization project to reduce rockfall hazards, Tessen said.
When the slide occurred, the state initially planned to move the debris and restore traffic on the main road, she said. But unstable conditions gave way to the discovery Monday of a large crack in the rock, Tessen said. Crews focused on drilling in the area to release water from the rock and minimize any additional movement, she said.
The road reopened Monday to essential travel only on one lane of the bypass during limited hours.
Construction on a two-lane bypass was in progress Tuesday afternoon, with a 90-minute travel window scheduled for 6 p.m. Officials said they hope to open up the bypass for two lanes of travel, without flaggers or escort vehicles, on Wednesday.
Local school officials planned to tour the site Tuesday afternoon to check the route for compatibility with bus traffic, Tessen said.
Schools are scheduled to open on a two-hour delay Wednesday morning “to allow time for the completion of work on the road,” the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District said in an update Tuesday evening. “This delay ensures the road is open and safe for travel, and gives bus drivers and staff adequate time to report to work and begin their day safely.”
Local officials declared an emergency the day of the slide.
In the immediate aftermath, a coalition of private boat owners volunteered to ferry stranded people and students around the slide. Dubbed the “Ketchikan Navy,” the boat corps gave way to an official water shuttle operated by several local businesses to get residents between the north and south sides of the blockage.
The borough’s transit system was planning to provide services to get pedestrians around the slide area starting Wednesday morning, according to a borough update.
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