Teton Highway Rebuild Update

In this video, I provide a new update as to what has transpired for the rush construction of the "temporary" bypass at the landslide location. It may be that this bypass might not be so temporary. I also have secured some information from some anonymous sources that sheds new light on whether there was sufficient information to support the construction of this bypass. I also provide an update on the status of efforts to restore the highway embankment to its pre-failure configuration.

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Link to June 27, 2024 Jackson Hole News and Guide article:

Link to Wyoming DOT media kit:

Teton Pass Collapse Geologists of Jackson Hole Video:

Soil Nails Installation

Soil Nails Installation Annimation

Washington State DOT Highway Embankment Design Manual

Cowboy State News Article
Jackson Hole New and Guide Article

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[davidkennedy]

As I stated in a previous post, our family has a home in Jackson. The bypass and the highway is not for the owners. They do not need to drive this, at least not daily. If they did safety would be far more important. The service and construction industry depend on this route. The owners can't get their homes cleaned or the lawns mowed or the snow plowed or the numerous other things they depend on done. They wind up at the bottom of a slide, the owners might send flowers.

[radioactivemike]

I appreciate your passion and hope you can pass your knowledge, experience and fire to the next generation of engineers. We’re going to need them.

[jamestamu]

Makes me admire even more the civil engineers, geologists, and contractors who built the entire US Highway System in the 1950-60's, without any computers!!

[michaelcurtis-cdot]

I just watched some of the Geologists of Jackson Hole presentation on the Teton Pass slide. When Bob Hammond of WYDOT stated that they mobilized a contractor for this emergency and the first thing they decided was to remove the asphalt from the roadway as they thought it might help. I just can't believe they thought moving inches of asphalt would make a difference when there is 70 foot of fill. Just the act of placing construction equipment on the failing slope was crazy from a safety standpoint. WYDOT is lucky that the construction equipment did trigger the slide with personnel on the equipment.

[charliesschroedinger]

Sterling, MA yesterday. Onyxx Corp. 90' quarry retaining wall catastrophic failure. Buried an excavator and killed the operator.
You looking into this one?? The video is incredible. The amount of material and size of some of the boulders (house + sized)

[redmondjp]

Noticed at 8:57 in the video: one of the principals at RJ engineering lives in Silt, CO. I guess that makes him an expert on unstable soils!

[nandi]

Thank you for your thoughtful analysis.

[ronstill]

The vibration of the asphalt removal work may have made it cut loose sooner.

[sylviaelse]

"mutually agreed upon soil parameters" seems like a recipe for group-think.

[davidpontnak]

I enjoy your presentations, also your new background looks great!

[AAABTonto]

Mutually agreed upon parameters ...is like a consensus, a word we're supposed to take seriously ... it means they made/make it up as they go along ...

[SpyMan-pd]

So here's the deal as I see it. With a current grade of 11.2 percent on the temporary bypass the drivers will face some extremely difficult driving conditions once the snow starts to fly later on this fall. That curve is at high altitude so the snow starts falling sooner than most people realize. Would not be a bit surprised to see lots of accidents and spinouts once the snow starts to fly.

[jeffreybaker]

Definitely my source when I want to know what is going on using verbiage my layman's brain can understand.

[ehsnils]

Styrofoam filling comes with its own issues because if the road is flooded in that area they can lift up the road and cause problems as well.
This happened recently in Sweden.

[lorettavanhaasteren]

Looks like they’re willing to take a chance on this temporary route. Hope it holds. Thanks, Casey, for keeping up with the story as it evolves. I have to say I’m glad I don’t have to travel on that road. 😮‍💨😕🤞🏻

[larrypatty]

In 2012 Interstate 75 near Jellico, TN, was closed when a major landslide took out the southbound lanes. The interstate was closed until the stability of the rest of the area could be determined. TDOT brought in a contractor that used an artillery piece to shoot soil nails into the slope to help stabilize it. They did not open the northbound lanes until they were sure that the rest of the slope would not give way.

[richardross]

Good video and analysis. Good Luck, Rick

[SuperDave_BR]

thank you Casey! it's always great to see another of your videos uploaded.

[alphax]

Public: WYDOT, you were supposed to watch this road!
WYDOT: We were watching; we saw the whole thing. First it started sliding down. Then it slid down.

[johnland]

Casey !!! You mentioned Triaxial tests, along with the slope analysis, years ago, 50 years!!!, before I was 18 I worked in a soil testing lab. Doing the Triaxial tests, slump tests, sample sieving, and helping to prepare the samples for the testing.
Others on a higher paygrade!!! Messed about with the numbers we recorded.

Two thoughts, the Victorian navvies building Britain's railways created miles of embankments and cuttings and thru trial and error as many earthworks or viaducts failed during construction and had to be redone/fixed. Working without modern testing, its surprising how much of their work is still in good condition. But in certain places ground conditions, lack of maintenance or ridiculous amounts of rain ( in the last 18 months here) have caused more slope failures across the country.

Two, secondly could you put together a video showing how samples are gathered. The tests available and examples of different soil types being put thru the battery of tests to illuminate what you are describing, how stuff fails.
I was thinking of the different behaviour during a triaxial test of Peat, Sand, a Boulder Clay/Glacial clay, a softer Clay with an angled Sand layer, or just a average loam/ sand / clay mix.

60 precent slope You can hardly scramble up it, mad.