Repairs taking longer than expected on Corner Brook road closed by landslide
Riverside Drive in Corner Brook has been closed for nearly two months after a landslide destroyed a section of the road. (Bernice Hillier/CBC)
Nearly two months after a landslide shut down Corner Brook's Riverside Drive in Corner Brook, repairs are taking longer than expected, and the costs are mounting.
Eight days after the April 4 landslide surged across the road, injuring two people who were swept into the Humber River, the City of Corner Brook said repairs would take a week or two. Now Mayor Parsons says it will still be another couple of weeks before the road will reopen.
"Nothing is for certain, there's always Mother Nature or something to intervene, but that is our plan right now," Parsons told CBC News this week.
Parsons says the cleanup and repairs are taking longer than expected due to safety concerns. Before workers and contractors were permitted to enter the site, geotech consultants had to scan the region to make sure it was safe and that another landslide wouldn't occur.
The road requires new drainage culverts, a new headwall, hundreds of feet of guide rail along the river's edge, and patching up of the pavement. Parsons said he doesn't know how much construction and repairs will cost the city but he estimates it will be somewhere in "the hundreds of thousands."
A buildup of groundwater after heavy rain caused the landslide on Riverside Drive, pushing a truck with two people in it into the Humber River. The two people were rescued and taken to hospital with minor injuries. (Submitted by Terri-Lynn Suley)
After consultations with an engineer, the city has a better understanding of what caused the landslide.
Parsons says groundwater had built up in the area for some time, then heavy rain from a few days earlier added weight to the earth, causing the landslide, which pushed a large swath of gravel, clay and trees into the road.
Parsons says the city is considering measures to improve safety in any future landslides, like road closures when rainfall hits a certain level.
Climate change may cause more extreme weather, said Parsons, which is why the engineering team is working on improving infrastructure.
"We can't change the climate here. We try to do our part as good green citizens in a big wide world, but all we can do is try and build back better and more resilient and anticipate that rainfall and snow events are going to get worse," he said.
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