Slowly advancing landslide continues to threaten Denali Park road

Dirt slowly sliding down a mountain is continuing to threaten a section of the main road into Denali National Park and Preserve.

The road is in the path of a creeping landslide that has pushed a 100-yard stretch of the gravel road 6 feet since September, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Monday.

Park maintenance staff used rock and gravel to fill a gap in the 92-mile road at Polychrome Pass, officials said.

Most tourists access the park using the road, and the landslide poses an “existential threat,” according to a National Park Service report.

The slide’s pace is accelerating. In 2016 it pushed the road 3 feet down the mountain. It doubled that distance in 2017, then doubling it again to 12 feet in 2018, officials said.

Park managers are fixing problems as they occur to maintain the road’s existing path, but are also exploring options including bridging over or tunneling under the slope. Structures could also be built to block the landslide, or rock could be removed from above to reduce the risk, officials said.

Alaska U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has asked the park service to report on the potential for a reroute.

“To rebuild this, or to do an alternate route, is going to be exceptionally expensive. It is just not easily done,” Murkowski said last week in Anchorage.