PORT TOWNSEND — A landslide on the bluff above Water Street is no cause for concern, the director of the city’s public works department said.
“Periodically, stuff like that happens,” Ken Clow said.
“That’s glacial till and layers of other material that just comes down.”
The bluff, across the street from the Bayview Restaurant, collapsed at about 9:15 a.m. Friday.
Dirt flowed over the guard rail and onto the street.
Road crews cleaned up the mess, and traffic flowed normally after about 15 minutes.
Dirt from the slide remained pushed up against concrete barriers along the road.
Clow said the barriers were installed to protect from slides off the bluff.
“That’s what they do,” he said. “We contain it.
“To try and secure the entire bluff wouldn’t be economically feasible.”
The collapse was in a location not previously identified as a dangerous spot along the bluff.
Clow said weather conditions likely caused such a collapse and that he expected them to continue.
“Little bits go every year,” he said.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsula dailynews.com.
