US 89 Reopens After 2013 Landslide
U.S. Route 89 reopened Friday south of Page after a landslide shut down the road two years ago.
On the morning of February 20, 2013, a landslide ripped through about 150 feet of Highway 89 buckling and tearing the road thousands traveled every day to get to Page and Lake Powell.
The Arizona Department of Transportation closed a 23-mile section of the highway and paved an alternate route on the Navajo Nation.
Intermodal Transportation Division Director Steve Boschen said on the agency’s website the workers essentially moved the mountainside above the road down below to reinforce the new stretch of highway.
“In six months we moved a million cubic yards,” Boschen said. “That’s only done on mining projects. It’s not usually done on an ADOT type project. So this happened very fast.”
It cost $25 million to rebuild the road and $35 million to pave the alternate route.
