UPDATED 5:48 p.m., Friday, Oct. 28: The Whittier tunnel has reopened for scheduled operations, and the Alaska Marine Highway System’s ferry The Fairweather will sail as previously scheduled on Saturday, Oct. 29 and Sunday, Oct. 30.
That announcement was issued in the late afternoon of Friday, Oct. 28, by Jeremy Woodrow, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in Juneau.
The Whittier tunnel was shut down earlier this week after employees detected a rock fall.
Earlier Story:
UPDATED 7:47 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27: Regular ferry service between Cordova and Whittier is cancelled for Friday, Oct. 28, as repairs continue on the Whittier Tunnel, in the wake of a rock fall earlier in the week detected by tunnel workers.
Earlier on Thursday, Oct. 27, Alaska Marine Highway System officials had thought that the tunnel might open on Friday.
AMHS officials announced later on Thursday that the Fairweather sailings for Friday have been revised
The ferry’s schedule to sailing to Whittier was canceled. The ferry will now sail from Cordova to Valdez and back to Cordova. AMHS staff is contacting affected passengers. The schedule is also online at www.FerryAlaska.com
The tunnel remains closed to regular traffic.
As soon as AMHS officials have an estimated time of opening, an announcement will be made.
While the tunnel remains closed to most traffic, the Alaska Railroad freight train has been running through the tunnel on schedule, and at about 6 p.m. on Oct. 26, the tunnel was opened for one lane of escorted traffic for vehicles headed in each direction. AMHS said that the tunnel would be open for one flow of traffic in each direction again this evening, Oct. 27.
The tunnel, which opened in 2000, is for the most part in a very stable location under a mountain, said Jeremy Woodrow, communications officer for AMHS. It is possible that freeze and thaw events could have loosened some rocks. The tunnel is routinely inspected by employees and the current closure was a precautionary measure taken when employees spotted few large boulders that had come loose from the wall, he said.
