Access to Perseverance Trail will be closed at times over the next week while the city clears a rockslide.
The City and Borough of Juneau Parks and Recreation will be working on the trail from Wednesday to next Tuesday. Basin Road will also be closed beyond the Mount Roberts trailhead at times while heavy machinery is in use.
According to Parks and Recreation Director George Schaaf, the work will focus on the first access trail up to Perseverance, not the access trail at the end of Basin Road.
The city uses that first access trail to get equipment like excavators onto the rest of the trail for maintenance. Heavy rains last year caused the slide.
“Since this landslide came down, we’ve been unable to get any equipment like an excavator down the trail to remove any smaller rock slides that may have occurred further on down the trail.”
Several smaller slides along Perseverance Trail above Gold Creek will have to wait for spring.
“We think we only have enough time this year to get rid of this initial slide,” said Schaaf, “but once that’s gone, that will facilitate us getting further down the trail to do more maintenance in the future.”
Schaaf said they are asking trail users to be aware of signs while the work goes on.
The road will only be closed for a few of the days while there is a risk of rocks falling from the trail above.
The portion of Basin Road beyond the Mount Roberts trailhead is usually closed from Nov. 1 until spring. That’s because the road is not maintained in winter and the city doesn’t want anyone getting stuck, Schaaf said.
George Schaaf is a member of KTOO’s board of directors.
