In February of last year, a landslide knocked out a section of roadway on US 89 south of Page. Since then, the Arizona Department of Transportation has been working a solution to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Last August, ADOT started construction on US 89. The work involves blasting and hauling one million cubic yards of material from the mountain slope. So far, crews have removed around 350,000 cubic yards of dirt and rock. ADOT’s plan to reopen the area is complex.
"We are going to be shifting the roadway approximately 60 feet away from the landslide area, and while we’re doing that, we’re doing daily blasting to cut away at the mountain and we’re taking all of that rock material to the base of the mountain slope and we’re building a rock buttress that’s going to stabilize the area," said ADOT spokesman Dustin Krugel.
Krugel says ADOT plans to complete the project by next spring.
Several businesses in the Lake Powell-area felt the financial sting the summer after the landslide took out US 89. Many tourists and visitors chose to avoid the initial lengthy detour. Since then, ADOT has paved Navajo Route 20 to serve as a temporary, shorter route.
