Infrastructure on ice – when road rides on accelerating rock glacier

The 92-mile, dead-end Denali Park Road crosses an accelerating rock glacier. Until 2014, the rock glacier would only displace the road a few tens of centimeters per year, however during the summer of 2021 the rock glacier has moved the road almost 40 cm/day. On August 24th, the park announced that the road would be closing near its midpoint weeks early because we could no longer safely maintain the road. This restriction has caused substantial impacts to our local and regional economy. Join us for a presentation on this challenge and how we can use it as an example to understand the increasing impacts to infrastructure in areas with permafrost.

Capps D (2021). Infrastructure on ice – when your road rides on an accelerating rock. USGS Landslide Hazards Program Seminar Series, 29 September 2021.