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Rockfall mitigation work begins Monday, June 30. Crews will be on site to prep the work area next week.
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Rockfall mitigation work begins Monday, June 30
Contractors hired by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) will begin rockfall mitigation work next Monday, June 30. Initial work will consist of prepping the site for construction, including installing erosion control and temporary rockfall protection.
Crews will be on site Monday through Friday between 8 AM and 5 PM, with the exception of July 3 and 4. Neighbors can expect to see trucks and crew members accessing the work zone from two vacant lots above the slide on SW Champlain Drive.
Project response includes rockfall mitigation across an approximately 130-foot-wide by 110-foot-tall section of the rockface above SW Tichner Drive. Details of the specialized multi-step work can be found on the project website.
Construction is expected to last 1.5 to 2 months. Slope conditions or other unknowns that arise during on-site work may extend the project timeline.
SW Tichner Drive will remain closed to motor vehicles until all project work has been completed and the area is deemed safe for vehicle travel. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic will be maintained on the northern Tichner sidewalk throughout construction.
What's been happening?
On Tuesday, June 17, PBOT and Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) Urban Forestry division staff partnered to remove five Big Leaf Maple trees near the top of the slide. The roots were impacting slope stabilization and required to be removed before further mitigation work could take place.
Background
On March 29, 2025, hundreds of cubic yards of weathered rock and debris broke free from a steep, 100-foot tall rock face. The dislodged rock mass landed primarily in a PBOT sand storage lot below, but some rocks the size of bowling balls spilled onto SW Tichner Drive.
Adjacent to the slide area's eastern edge is a similarly sized section of rock mass (layers of soil consolidated, sediment, and rock) that is observed by experts to be unstable. The unstable rock face sits above SW Tichner Drive near the intersection of W Burnside Road. PBOT has closed SW Tichner Drive to traffic since March due to the threat of falling rocks and debris landing in the roadway.
Portland typically experiences several landslides each winter which impact roads, sidewalks and other public right of way. Those regularly involve mud and tree debris sliding from a hillside onto the roadway or sidewalk below.
In the case of SW Tichner, a large quantity of weathered rock and debris fell from more than 80 feet above the bottom of the hillside. Rockfall events this large are rare in the Portland area. PBOT has brought in a contractor from outside of the Portland area to find the right expertise.
For more information:
Abra McNair | Project Manager
Abra.McNair@portlandoregon.gov | 971-501-0419