The contractor has continued blasting work on the west side of the slide. This work has allowed the completion of a temporary access route across the slide, giving NPS staff an exceptional opportunity to cross the slide on September 19 to get vehicles to points west of the construction site. The contractor will use this route to transport the crane and foundation blocks across the slide. The 26 concrete foundation blocks are in production in Anchorage and, once cured, they will be transported to the park. Blasting continues, and the expanded closure for blasting work at Pretty Rocks will remain in place until the contractor field season shuts down for winter.
As the park is in the shoulder season and the Park Road is currently open to the Teklanika Rest Area, we remind motorists to be alert for heavy construction vehicles on the road while work continues in the fall.
Below is an image of a blast. Watch a video of the blasting operations, provided by the Federal Highway Administration, here. Granite placed several stationary cameras to monitor the blasting effort. The empty container in the area was used by Granite to protect park monitoring equipment at the slide.
Photo courtesy of FHWA