Arizona DOT is undertaking a project to remove hazardous rock formations above Highway 77 between the towns of Globe and Winkelman, AZ (east of Phoenix). On November 29/30, The blasting work inadvertently dislodged an 18 foot boulder from about 150 feet above the roadway. The highway was closed at the time for the blasting operation, but it did take crews longer than planned to clear the road as a result of having to break up the massive boulder. [Source: Read more in the ADOT Press Release. Image: ADOT]
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Video: Fun with Falling Rocks
Thank you to my old colleague at URS Corporation, Andy Messer for sending me a link to these videos. The are from an Austrian company, Trumer Schutzbauten, that provides products and research related to rockfall fences. The first video is presumably to show the hazards of camping next to hazardous rock slopes…good fun! Click through for the videos.
Rockslide Closes I-40 in Western North Carolina
A massive rockslide closed a busy interstate route last week near the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in Pigeon River Gorge. This area has had landslide problems in the past. In 1997 a rockslide in the same area closed the freeway for approximately 3 months. (Photo from Landslides Under a Microscope Blog, original source not cited)
I have yet to see volume estimates, but The Charlotte Observer quoted a highway patrol officer who was at the scene:
He said the roadway is covered by a gigantic mound of debris, from pebbles up to house-sized boulders. The pile is 40 to 50 feet high, Williamson estimated, and hundreds of feet long.
More info and video after the break. […]