It’s still unsafe to begin clearing Robert Service Way of the mudslide that occurred last Saturday, Mayor Laura Cabott said at a media briefing this morning.

“I was hoping I could say we would start to move debris this weekend,” Cabott told reporters. “Unfortunately, we can’t, because it remains a dangerous and active area.”

As far as the next steps go, she said, the city will continue to monitor the situation – but Robert Service Way will remain closed for a least a few more days.

She said survey equipment has been set up to measure any further slippage. In some areas, material has come down another four centimetres, she said, adding tension cracks in the slide have also been detected.

The city’s engineering department is working with a local veteran geo-engineer to assess the situation. A slide specialist down south has also been retained to provide advice.

“We will continue to monitor, continue to use the survey equipment to see if there is further movement,” Cabott said.

Staff began assessing the slide immediately after it occurred, and have been assessing it every day since.

The city had blocked off access to Robert Service Way at the Alaska Highway, allowing only traffic for Skookum Asphalt and Yukon Energy, she noted.

The mayor said the barriers have been moved down the roadway so the general public can now drive or cycle down and have access to the Millennium Bridge.

There is security posted at both ends of the road closure to ensure access is prevented, even on foot.

Cabott said initially, some people went into the slide area for a closer look, but generally people have been very co-operative.

The city is also monitoring traffic flow to measure any congestion as a result of all traffic from the south bound for downtown now having to use Two Mile Hill, she said.

Cabott said staff do have the ability to change the timing of traffic lights to assist with congestion, if need be.

The mayor said earlier this week the cause of the slide is saturated soil as a result of high amounts of precipitation the city has received in the last couple of years, including this year.

It’s estimated that approximately 2,000 cubic metres of material came down – roughly equivalent to some 200 dump truck loads.

The slide is about 60 metres wide. It buried the railway track, smothered the roadway, took out the guardrail, a light standard and some trees.

The mayor pointed out the city had already budgeted money this year to complete an assessment of the entire escarpment to determine if there are any areas that look like they may present a danger.

Tracy Allen, the city’s director of operations, said people have adjusted their traffic patterns, so staff feel comfortable moving the barriers further down Robert Service Way to provide access to the Millennium Bridge.

City staff are working on a safe work plan to remove the debris once it’s safe to access the site, she said.

Allen said they definitely do not want the larger debris getting into the Yukon River and going down, and hitting the Robert Campbell Bridge. There’s also fish habitat to be concerned about, she said.

The mayor said it’s way too early to estimate how much it will cost the city to get Robert Service Way open again.

With $55 million in reserves, the city is in a sound financial position, she said.

Officials will look to the federal government and programs it has in place to assist with these types of emergencies.

Asked if she believes climate change had anything to do with the slide, the mayor said they hope to learn more about that, as much as they can.

As a lay person who watches what’s going on in the world, she said, she would say climate change was a factor.

One route in the municipal transit system, the Number 5 Copper Ridge Express and Lobird route, has been detoured for the time being.

During a CBC Yukon interview Thursday, John Clague, a retired professor of earth sciences at Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University, suggested the soil saturation being blamed for the avalanche could have been caused by how the airport manages its snow removal.

“Where does that snow go?” he asked.

“Do they pile up anywhere on that bench? There was so much water coming out of that slope, it surprised me,” Clague told the CBC.

Carly Bohman, a communications analyst with Yukon Highway and Public Works, told the Star, “The airport does not pile snow in this area or anywhere eastside of the airfield (where the landslide occurred).”

– With a file from Tim Giilck. See letter, photo p. 19.