PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Waterfront Trail is expected to reopen this week after engineers confirm that the bluff west of Francis Street Park has stabilized, a city official said.
A 10- to 15-foot section of the bluff collapsed above the trail because of water runoff from firefighters’ efforts to save a burning home at 715 Caroline St. on Tuesday.
City Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said Friday he hoped to receive a geotechnical report Monday or Tuesday.
“We want to make sure the bank is stable before we go in there and clean up the slide,” Delikat said.
“It’s just for the safety of the crew.”
Once the city gets the go-ahead to remove the debris, crews are expected to have the trail open in four to six hours.
“It shouldn’t take long,” Delikat said.
Engineers from Northwestern Territories Inc., a Port Angeles land surveying firm, have been monitoring the bluff since the Tuesday landslide.
The collapse left only a few feet of land between the edge of the bluff and the burning home.
Firefighters were forced to let the 116-year-old house burn in a controlled style to prevent additional landslides.
A neighboring home at 713 Caroline St. also was threatened by the sliding bluff.
The trail closure is marked by signs in multiple locations on both sides of the debris.
Trees, rocks and dry mud are strewn across the trail inside a roughly 100-yard fenced-off section of the waterfront trail.
Francis Street Park remains open.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56450, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
