Contractors hired by the University of Alaska Southeast cleaned up remaining loose material after a February landfill near on the access road to the Juneau Student Recreation Center.
The university was moved to hire Advanced Blasting Services to clear the cliffside, after several larger rocks fell on the sidewalk over two days in February, said UAS operations and maintenance manager Adam Zenger.
“Nobody was there when they fell. We cleared them off of the sidewalk and that was that,” Zenger said on Tuesday. “The next one came down the following day. We haven’t had anything happen since then.”
The university brought down the Wasilla-based contractor, who began work over the weekend and are slated to finish Tuesday afternoon, Zenger said.
“We saw that there was still some hanging up there and we contacted the contractor to come in and remove as much as they could feasibly,” Zenger said in a phone interview.
University of Alaska Southeast employed contractors from Advanced Blasting Services to clear remaining material from a cliffside that had a substantial rockslide in February. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
Contractors anchored lines above the cliff and traversed down, using tools to clear loose material that could possibly fall in the future.
“Essentially, we brought in the pros,” Zenger said. “In conjunction with that, we’re employing a geotechnical consultant.”
The geotechnical consultant will assess the cliff once the consultants are done clearing it and suggest further measures if they’re required, Zenger said.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities recently shut down Douglas Highway to clear a rockslide that had occurred in early April, cutting off access to destinations on North Douglas.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
