Massive landslide causes Oregon highway to crumble, creating a 12-foot drop, photos show
UPDATE: Transportation officials said one lane of U.S. Highway 101 reopened at 3:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 13, after a landslide shut down the roadway Monday, Jan. 9.
The original story is below.
A massive landslide caused an Oregon highway to crumble and drop up to 12 feet in areas, transportation officials said.
Cracks began appearing on the U.S. Highway 101 on Jan. 2, about 12 miles south of Port Orford, the Oregon Department of Transportation said in a Jan. 9 news release.
Work crews patched the cracks, but within four days, a sunken hole appeared on the northbound lanes and forced a lane closure, officials said.
The highway was then closed after another section of the road sunk about 5 feet around 3 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 9, officials said.
Parts of the roadway continued to sink. Within a 200-yard portion of the road, some areas dropped 12 feet deep. Officials have since closed the highway, and they do not yet have an estimate of when it can reopen.
The highway is closed to emergency services, and there is not a detour on this part of the highway, officials said.
Officials said “active landslides” are common in this area, and this one is known as the “Arizona Slide.” The last large landslide happened in 1993, and it forced the highway to close for over a week.
Port Orford is along the southern coast, about 170 miles southwest of Eugene.
This story was originally published January 11, 2023 at 2:58 PM with the headline "Massive landslide causes Oregon highway to crumble, creating a 12-foot drop, photos show."
