Landslides

My landslide is located on the US Highway 89 near Page Arizona. I had a surprisingly difficult time finding articles on landslides. It is likely that the trigger was a natural occurrence from recent rains. The soil would have become heavy and the shear force exceeded  the shear resistance. However, it seems there was still enough friction or resistance in the soil to keep it from continuing downward.

As you can see the slide didn't actually travel far. This shot was taken a year after the initial slump began before construction began. It can be seen that the soil remained intact and slid as a slump with its small scarp at the top and bigger lobe below. Just above the road in this exact location is a large slump form years ago, which tells us this location is prone to landslides.

This article gives details about the Plans to fix the road and some interesting insights into what that involved.

This is the same area now. The plans and approval took over a year to obtain and the overall fix took twelve months. I find it interesting that they added the support at the base of the slope to support the incline. In our reading we read that undercutting can weaken a hill or mountain. It appears that the opposite is also true. Very smart. I imagine they would have had a difficult time deciding how to fix this particular dilemma. The slide originated more than 100 feet below the surface making the repair tricky. I imagine stitching would be difficult at such a depth. In addition to the terrace below, the stepping above the road supports the hill there. Along with these and other measure they were able to take, hopefully further problems have been prevented.