Date:  Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Contact: Dustin Terpening, WSDOT communications, 360-757-5997 (Burlington)
Marco Foster, Engineering Manager, 360-757-5991 (Burlington) 
 

Crews will begin to stabilize hillside beginning Thursday

BELLINGHAM – A three-mile section of Chuckanut Drive (SR 11) will remain closed for several weeks after a rockslide Monday, Nov. 10, sent boulders the size of cars crashing on to the road south of Bellingham.

Crews are moving equipment into place today and expect to start stabilizing the hillside above Chuckanut Drive on Thursday, Nov. 13. The work will take several weeks to complete and the road will remain closed from mileposts 11 to 14 for the duration of the work.

The first step in stabilizing the hillside will be to knock down any loose rock and debris above the slide area. To protect the area from further slides, crews will also bind remaining rocks to stable bedrock in the hill with long rock bolts, then cover it with spray-on concrete.

A Nov. 10 rockslide dumped hundreds of yards of rock and debris onto the road, including a half-dozen rocks the size of cars, and blocked all lanes. Pictures and video are available on the WSDOT Flickr account - www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157608820308824/.  

WSDOT hired Granite Northwest of Bellingham to stabilize the hillside.

Businesses along Chuckanut Drive remain open.

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