Tunnel to Whittier reopened as crew finishes stabilization work, official says

The only land route in and out of Whittier has reopened after about three days of closure as a contract crew finished work at the site of a rockfall.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced shortly after 4 p.m. Friday it had opened Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel.

Work began Wednesday to repair the rockfall that closed the road-and-rail tunnel to Whittier for routine travel. The fallen rocks landed on the roadside near a junction box, officials said. The rocks, weighing an estimated 500 pounds, calved off the tunnel wall.

[Escorted access planned Thursday evening for closed Whittier tunnel]

DOT spokeswoman Shannon McCarthy said Friday that the department remains certain the rockfall is not a call for concern about the overall stability of the tunnel.

Contractor Advanced Blasting, a demolition firm that also specializes in rock stabilization, finished sinking 12-foot rock bolts into the tunnel wall Friday. The crew also removed the "problem rock" and tacked high-tension netting in the area, McCarthy said.

Escorts guided commuters through the tunnel at several intervals during the closure. The most recent escort happened at 7 a.m. Friday.

Everyone waiting to get through the tunnel in the mornings and evenings made it through, McCarthy said.

Whittier Chief of Police Dave Schofield said two officers tasked with patrolling the nearby community of Girdwood since Tuesday have been staying in the ski town's resort. The arrangement required heightened coordination but went smoothly, Schofield said.

Public safety services otherwise continued undeterred. Local police and transportation officials worked together to allow a single medical transport through the tunnel, the police chief said.