Highway to stay closed at Wolfe Point through weekend due to unstable landslide slope; single-lane bypass planned

A 5:30 p.m. announcement from the EOC formed by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and City of Ketchikan states that, at the request of the Alaska Department of Transportation, SECON plans to start building a temporary, single-lane bypass for limited daytime travel around the slide area. 

The bypass is anticipated to be completed early in the week, and traffic will be controlled by flaggers and spotters, according to the EOC.

"Once the bypass is complete, motorists should expect significant delays and are advised to only travel through the area if absolutely necessary," states the EOC announcement, which is available on the borough website at https://www.kgbak.us/1113/Wolfe-Point-Landslide.

Crews have been working at the site throughout the day Saturday. According to the EOC, the landslide slope continues to be unstable, "with two of the four identified hazard blocks still in place" as of early evening.

A 5:30 p.m. announcement from the  Alaska Department of Transportation stated that it's unable to conduct night time operations because darkness has a high level of risk for workers in the current scenario of movement and instability in the slide-debris slope.

In an 11 a.m. update, the EOC indicated that it has been coordinating with the U.S. Postal Service and local pharmacies to use the water shuttle system to move items around the slide area to the north end, which remains without road access to the rest of the community.

"Efforts are underway to ensure that mail, prescriptions, and other critical supplies can be delivered despite the ongoing road closure, " stated the 11 a.m. update.

The water shuttle service, which was started by Allen Marine Tours on Thursday afternoon and has continued with assistance from Southeast Stevedoring, will continue Saturday evening, with the last runs of the day scheduled for 9:15 p.m. northbound from Taquan Air, and at 10 p.m. southbound from The Ketch Inn.

The water shuttle service is scheduled to resume Sunday morning with a 7 a.m. southbound departure from The Ketch and a 7:45 a.m. northbound departure from Taquan Air, according to an alert from the Ketchikan AK Community Notification System.

Departures from each location have been occurring about every 1.5 hours, according to Allen Marine information.

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Update: 11 a.m. Saturday

The Wolfe Point landslide slope continues to be unstable as of Saturday morning, and there is not an estimated time for the North Tongass Highway to be reopened to through traffic, according to a 10:30 a.m. social media post by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

“This morning, a site safety inspection conducted with the Department’s engineering consultants (Landslide Technologies) and DOT&PF geotechnical staff revealed that one of the larger hazard blocks — previously unmovable — had dislodged and slid to the debris pile near the road shoulder,” stated the post on DOT’s Facebook page. “This means conditions naturally changed overnight.”

Debris-removal work is continuing on Saturday as previously announced.

DOT stated that the current emphasis is on “safely extracting the hazard blocks in a controlled manner” as a necessary step to allow for further clearing of the site safely.

“There is a large team coordinating to open this road, and we thank you for your patience,” states the post.

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North Tongass Highway will remain blocked in the Wolfe Point area over Friday night and into Saturday as crews continue to clear debris from the Thursday landslide that severed the road link to the Ketchikan community's north end.


The water shuttle service offered by Allen Marine Tours with assistance Friday by Southeast Stevedoring will resume at 7 a.m. Saturday with departures every 35-45 minutes from The Ketch Inn, which is located north of the slide area, to Taquan Air, according to an early Friday evening announcement from local Emergency Operations Center established by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and City of Ketchikan in response to the incident.


Some vehicle traffic could resume during the weekend, according to the EOC statement, which indicated that, according to the Alaska Department of Transportation, "if conditions allow, limited traffic may be permitted under controlled access (e.g., pilot cars, flaggers)."


A Daily News inquiry regarding the cause of the slide was not returned by an Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson by presstime Friday.


The slide occurred at about 10:55 a.m. Thursday about 330 feet north of the Mile 3 marker, within the area where DOT's Wolfe Point Slope Stability Improvements Project had started in early March. The area had seen smaller rockfalls in the past, including in February of 2022.


According to notices from SECON, the project contractor, blasting for the current project's work began on March 6. Subsequent blasting event notices were issued for six subsequent days of the month through Wednesday, March 19. There was no blasting notice issued for Thursday.

Although there was 1.81 inches of precipitation recorded at the Ketchikan International Airport on Wednesday and another 0.29 inches early Thursday morning, there was only 0.01 inches recorded in the 7-8 hours before Thursday's slide, according to National Weather Service data.


No one was injured in the landslide that covered both lanes of North Tongass Highway on Thursday. 


Debris clean-up didn't start right away. Due to safety concerns, the debris-removal work began at about 6:30 a.m. Friday after a site assessment.


According to Friday evening's announcement from the EOC, "Crews made progress today in safely clearing debris from the Wolfe Point landslide, with Secon continuing removal efforts and the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities ... geotechnical team on-site assessing slope
stability."


Stability continued to be a concern, as some very large boulders loomed high in the debris field.
"When the slope failed, several RV-sized boulders ended up perched on top of the debris pile," Travis Eckhoff, DOT geotechnical team engineer, said in the prepared EOC statement. "The debris pile is like a giant, rocky game of Jenga. Crews must strategically remove the material supporting these boulders to prevent them from falling onto workers or impacting adjacent power lines."


Over the course of the day Friday, crews cleared enough space on the water side of the highway to allow SECON equipment to maneuver in the slide area and reach the north side to start clearing work there, according to the EOC announcement.


The announcement listed four objectives for the EOC-coordinated response efforts, including:


• Ensuring the safety of the public, responders and workers.
• Clearing debris without disrupting utilities.


• Maintaining transportation across the slide area until the road reopens.


• Reopening the road as soon as it is safe to do so.


While debris-clearing work got underway and continued throughout the day, residents adjusted to a blocked highway. 


The water shuttle service launched by Allen Marine Tours on Thursday afternoon resumed early Friday morning and was set to continue — with an afternoon assist by Southeast Stevedoring — until late Friday night.


At midday on the north side of the slide area, parked vehicles lined the sides of the highway near the The Ketch Inn driveway, with others filling the parking lot of Tyler Rental. 


A Southeast Alaska Independent Living van stood by at the Tyler Rental lot to shuttle commuters to and from The Ketch. 


Meanwhile, a Ketchikan Gateway Borough Transit bus and a First Student school bus operated between Tyler Rental and Clover Pass. Providing service free of charge, these buses made stops at the regular Borough Transit bus stops every 30 minutes, and also "picking up passengers that flag the buses by extending their arm towards the roadway to signal them," Borough Public Information Officer Anthony Pio wrote in an email response to a Daily News inquiry.


The northern end of Ketchikan beyond the slide site stretches about 15 miles along North Tongass Highway and includes residential, recreational, commercial and industrial areas. It also has the Revilla Road access to Ward Lake, Harriet Hunt Lake, the Brown Mountain Road and beyond. 


The Daily News was unable to obtain a population estimate for the area north of the landslide on Friday. The road traffic seemed quieter than usual.
Walmart, which had closed at 6 p.m. on Thursday but was open regular hours on Friday, had customers in the early afternoon, including several families with school-aged children (Ketchikan District Schools were closed on Friday because of the landslide).


The U.S Postal Service did not have mail delivery in the north end on Friday. Neither did the Daily News. A Daily News inquiry about mail delivery in the near future did not receive a reply from an Alaska Region USPS spokesperson by presstime Friday. But the Daily News will resume normal delivery as soon as it is safe to proceed out North Tongass Highway.


Another aspect of the blocked highway involves emergency medical care. The workaround for transporting a patient to PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center involves initial transport by North Tongass Volunteer Fire Department to Temsco Helicopters for air transport to a location for transfer to Ketchikan Fire Department EMS and on to the medical center.


As of Friday afternoon, one patient had been transported in this manner, according to Pio.
Another announcement made by the EOC on Friday involved a Temporary Flight Restriction issued by the FAA.


The TFR bars all "non-essential aircraft," including drones, from within a half-mile radius of the landslide site, according to the EOC announcement.


"Unauthorized flights in the restricted area pose a significant safety risk and may interfere with response efforts," state the Friday morning announcement. "Pilots and drone operators are urged to respect this restriction and check for updates before operating in the area."


The landslide has had an effect on local arts. First City Players announced that its weekend shows of "The Crucible" had been canceled. Shows had been scheduled for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.


"We will be reaching out to everyone who has tickets to reschedule once we have set our new performance schedule next weekend, " stated an FCP social media post.


On Monday, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly will have a special meeting to consider ratifying the joint Declaration of Disaster Emergency signed by Borough Mayor Rodney Dial and Ketchikan City Mayor Bob Sivertsen.


The special meeting, which will include an update on the Wolfe Point landslide response, is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Assembly chambers at 1900 First Ave., Suite 144.


Updates regarding the Wolfe Point landslide and response efforts are posted on the borough's website at https://www.kgbak.us/