Beeline Hwy landslide update

AZGS geologists Mimi Diaz and Brian Gootee from our Phoenix branch office are investigating the landslide that closed Arizona state highway 87 (the Beeline Hwy) last Friday night. They are preparing a short preliminary report that will be posted on the AZGS website (azgs.az.gov) shortly. Here are a few photos and descriptions of the situation.

Photo 1 [right]: One of several landslides on the west side of the road. Note the broken shotcrete and straw wattles.

Photo 2 [right]: The shovel bucket is sitting on top of the buckled area. Headscarps of landslides are visible on either side of the one that buckled the road. Bulldozers have already obliterated the scarps and fissures at the head of the slides on the left.

Photo 3 [left]: The slide included a section of road as shown by the buckling of the asphalt.

Photo 4: The landslide has buckled the highway and appears to have continually creeped over the weekend, pushing the highway up over one meter high and shifting the highway horizontally several tens of centimeters.