Whitehorse, YT – Following two small-scale slides in the past couple of weeks, the federal government announced that the City of Whitehorse is getting over $45 million in funding which they and the Yukon Government applied for to help the city put in place long-term measures to address the landslide issues plaguing Robert Service Way.
Federal Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan announced the funding before the Robert Service Way escarpment on Monday, May 6th.
The federal investment of $45,882,633, will be channeled through the Disaster Mitigation and Adaption Fund (DMAF), which is slated for protecting key areas including the land beneath the Erik Nielson Whitehorse International Airport, towards the top of the escarpment, and Robert Service Way, as climate change makes landslides a growing threat.
Minister Sajjan was surrounded by various community leaders while unveiling the federal funding. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
There were two small-scale slides recently, one on April 25th and the second on May 4th. The City of Whitehorse has recently installed a lock block wall to address small-scale slides.
Although the city has recently been shifting traffic lanes away from the escarpment, the long-term goal is to shift the entire roadway and Millenium Trail to provide a larger buffer zone between the road and the slope. Whitehorse Mayor Laura Cabott underlined that the City’s permanent solution also involves, regrading the slope of the escarpment, supporting revegetation and expanding debris barriers.
“It is the start of the largest infrastructure project that we have ever undertaken. This is a major focus for the city,” said Cabott from a podium in front of the escarpment. “Detailed work and design will now get underway, we’ll start to move into a [request for proposal], with the design work, we’ll start to understand a little bit more, and over time we’ll be able to build a permanent solution behind us.”
The city’s long-term plans are expected to take place in 2026 with ongoing work to monitor the escarpment with visual inspections and radar-based slope monitoring continuing along the whole stretch of the escarpment.
Mayor Cabott expressed gratitude for the federal funding given the importance of the road in connecting folks to services in Whitehorse. In previous years, landslides have resulted in weeks-long closures and the mayor is not ruling out the possibility of potential closures in the years to come before the measures are finished.
“Heads up, we are going to continue to see movement along the escarpment, tension cracks, and slides,” said Cabott. “The road may be closed at some point this year and we will likely see something like that over the next few years.”
DMAF aims to provide funding for communities country-wide to help municipalities withstand natural disasters and the federal government says they put $3.8 billion into the fund since 2018.
On the heels of the announcement, the federal government also unveiled $8.7 million in funding, made available through the Disaster Financial Assistance Arrangements to help flood recovery efforts in the Yukon, and $3.5 million to assist with flood mapping efforts.
