In October of 2009, a massive landslide in the Nile Valley, near Yakima, Washington, took out a portion of Washington SR 410 and impacted the Naches River as well. This video from WSDOT shows what emergency response was required to get temporary traffic restored on a detour and get a more permanent detour constructed.
Project Related
Devil’s Slide Tunnel Update and First Attempts to Tame the Landslide
The Devil’s Slide Tunnel project is on schedule and on budget according to a news story at ABC7News.com from earlier in June. The video (shown after the break) has a few nice shots showing rock bolting, soil nailing at the portals, and the geologic mapping and laser scanning that happens at the tunnel face.
I also came across a very neat article about how the Ocean Shore Railroad Company was the first to try to cut into the slope along what is now PCH 1 at the Devil’s Slide back in the early 1900s. They were trying to connect the then rural farming community of Half-Moon Bay with San Francisco. The railroad fought the reoccurring landslide and serious rockfalls. Ocean Shore Railroad went bankrupt in 1922 and pulled up its rails, making room for the current highway. (Photo at left from halfmoonbaymemories.com)
Failures
Retaining wall failure and landslide in San Antonio Displaces 25 Homeowners
A 20 to 30-ft high retaining wall in a subdivision in San Antonio Texas failed on Sunday causing an evacuation of 80 homes. After an initial inspection, some 55 home-owners were allowed to return. The massive tension cracks that opened along the wall and behind it were 12-15-ft deep and 6-8-ft wide. Reportedly, the wall had problems even before the subdivision was even constructed. More after the break. (Photo by Jerry Lara – San Antonio Express-News)
Geologic Hazards
Video: Massive Earthworks to Stabilize US 89 Landslide
By April of 2015, the contractor for Arizona DOT’s US 89 Landslide Stabilization project will have move over 1 million cubic yards of material to build a massive stabilizing berm. They are using CAT 773 […]