Robert Service Way in Whitehorse will stay closed over long weekend

Weekend warriors in Whitehorse will be without a shortcut to points south of town over the Victoria Day holiday.

The City of Whitehorse will keep the landslide-plagued Robert Service Way closed over the long weekend.

Spokesperson Oshea Jephson said the city has to keep the road closed because geotechnical experts, who are tasked with keeping an eye on data from instruments that measure stability along the escarpment, will be off over the weekend.

"We're going to keep it closed for this weekend because we don't have as many of those resources in town to be able to maintain that level of monitoring, Jephson said.

"But once the road reopens on Tuesday morning, if conditions remain the same, we'll be looking at24-7 reopening, hopefully ... if conditions remain the same and continue to improve." He urged residents to check the city's social media channels Monday to confirm the Tuesday reopening.

Robert Service Way reopened to vehicle trafficMay 15 after being closed by an April 8 landslide.

The city reopened the road only to vehicle traffic and only between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.It said those restrictions were needed for safety reasons.

Since the original slide in April, crews have been pushing soil off the top of the embankment to reduce the risk of an unplanned, uncontrolled landslide.

Jephson said that soil was used to create a berm and ditch to collect any material from future landslides. The city has also installed concrete barriers to protect traffic.