An excavator pulls dirt back from the cement barrier after a loader cleared the roadway (Patrick Walker/NAZ Today)
PAYSON (NAZ Today)– Monsoon storms and mud caused delays on an already backed-up Sunday for drivers heading along a central Arizona highway.
Loose dirt from a highway widening project on State Route 260 east of Payson gave way in the afternoon after the area was hit by a line of thunderstorms earlier in the day. National Weather Service radar estimates show 1-3 inches of rain fell in the area Sunday, with some isolated areas receiving 4 inches of rain within a mile of the rockslides, at mile post 265. A flood advisory for the area expired at 6:30 pm Sunday evening.
Patrick Walker/NAZ Today
The mud caused delays in the west-bound lane of traffic on the two-lane portion of the roadway. The short section of road between Little Green Valley and Tonto Village, where the slide occurred, is one of the last two-lane sections of SR 260 between Forest Lakes and Payson, and is currently under construction.
The road was closed for a few minutes while crews quickly cleared debris from the roadway and worked to prevent additional dirt from falling over cement construction barriers onto the highway.
Estimated rainfall of 2-3 inches (red) and 4 inches (pink) over SR 260 12 miles east of Payson (Radar courtesy: NWS Flagstaff)
The slide backed up weekend traffic returning to the Phoenix area. SR 260 is a popular route for vacationers during the summer months as a connector between the Metro Phoenix area and the Mogollon Rim. Traffic counts by the Town of Payson and ADOT on State Route 260 in Payson show that 20,000 vehicles pass through the area per day during the weekend (Friday-Sunday).
The Arizona Department of Transportation will close the road between mile posts 264 and 265 Tuesday and Thursday from 2-3 pm for blasting operations, unrelated to the mudslide.
Rain falling over the mudslide area, looking east from Payson Sunday evening (Patrick Walker/NAZ Today)
They created a several hour delay and/or detour for some dirt in the road. Oh please!!!!!!!!! Get a life.
Don’t know where that “few minutes” jive came from. I was stuck in the delay three miles from the construction zone and it was well over an hour and a half before we moved. Traffic behind me must have been delayed even longer. If the backup did not extend up over the Rim to Forest Lakes I would be surprised.
It was an unusually heavy rain but the embankment was not well compacted and was poorly retained. It looked as if a temporary stockpile had been allowed adjacent to the highway without much consideration for its stability. Obviously the temporary earthwork did not consider the possibility of rainfall. Hey, guys, this is monsoon season along the Rim! Worse, the erosion control systems, intended to prevent sediment migration into area streams, was overcome. Hopefully the construction team learned something from this and will either provide adequate retention of move the stockpile.
I like how ADOT’s site merely refers to it as an “event,” instead of the obvious negligence that it was. What exactly did they think was going to happen when it rained after piling up all that dirt next to the roadway?