Robert Service Way to reopen Friday, almost 7 weeks after landslide closure

Robert Service Way will reopen to traffic Friday morning, according to a news release from the City of Whitehorse.

The thoroughfare into downtown Whitehorse has been closed since April 30 when a landslide took place. It sent about 2,000 cubic metres of sand, silt and clay from the escarpment across Robert Service Way and the adjoining Millennium Trail, and into the Yukon River.

The Thursday news release said crews are finishing cleaning up the area after installing a 100-metre sheet pile wall and reinforcing it with an earth berm.

The wall was built along Robert Service Way to mitigate the damage from any future landslide in the area.

The release added that Millennium Trail will remain closed for now.

The city is also asking the public to stay out of areas it closed following three other landslides that took place along the escarpment, which borders the west side of downtown.