Maintenance crews said last weekend’s landslide at Milepost 50, near Cooper Landing, was over twice as large as they originally estimated, measuring about 250 feet wide and six to eight feet deep.
Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Shannon McCarthy said it isn’t the first time there’s been a big landslide in that spot. She said there was another slide in the same place a decade ago and there’s been at least one more not far off, closer to Cooper Creek.
She said that makes the area a heightened concern for DOT. Geotechnical crews will continue to monitor the spot to look out for signs of imminent slides going forward.
The area will be bypassed by the ongoing Sterling Highway project, which will divert a section of the highway between Mileposts 46 and 55. Summer and fall construction on that project is now going into winter shutdown, according to DOT, though crews are still working on some of the design elements of the project.
The highway reopened to two-lane traffic at Milepost 50 Wednesday afternoon.
