Hwy. 22 reopens at Detroit after large rock slide

(Update: Highway reopens; crews completing clean-up, monitoring site)

State Highway 22 near Detroit reopened Saturday afternoon after Oregon Department of Transportation crews removed a large rock slide that partially blocked the route Friday evening, officials said.

An ODOT update around 2:15 p.m. said the highway was open again in both directions just west of Detroit. But it said motorists should be aware of and watch out for remaining clean-up crews in the area.

The second of two slides within about an hour occurred around 6 p.m. Friday and sent about 300 cubic yards of rocks and mud tumbling onto the two-lane road just west of Detroit at milepost 50, between Breitenbush Bridge and Breitenbush Road. A rock fence also was taken out by the slide.

A geologist was called in Saturday to assess what needed to be done to stabilize the slope, ODOT Region 2 spokeswoman Angela Beers Seydel said.

“About 200 feet of rock fence came down with the slide,” she added, and a new barrier was put in place before the road reopened Saturday afternoon.

While the geologist said it was safe to reopen the highway, crews “installed barrier and are continuing to monitor the site, as we do with all slides,” Beers Seydel said.

The slide covered more than one lane and prompted closure of the key east-west route between Central Oregon and the Willamette Valley as the New Year’s holiday weekend began.

An initial side occurred about 5 p.m. Friday and crews had it cleaned up, “then it all came down again” about an hour later, Beers Seydel said.

No trapped cars or injuries were reported in the slide, which occurred just east of the Detroit Bridge and just west of the town.

But “rocks are still coming down,” Beers Seydel said around 9 p.m. Friday With one lane partly clear of the slide, emergency vehicles were able to get through if “absolutely necessary,” she added.

Flaggers were in place at either end of the immediate road closure prompted by the slide, but electronic reader boards had warned travelers as far east as Sisters and west at Interstate 5 they needed to take alternate routes, primarily U.S. Highways 20 or 26.

By early Saturday, ODOT reported that crews had begun the process of removing the slide material from the road but continued to urge travelers to take alternate routes and avoid the area until the work was done.

Track updates on our ODOT TripCheck page.