Feds give Whitehorse $45M for 'permanent' solution to escarpment landslides

The City of Whitehorse is planning some major work to reduce the risk of landslides along Robert Service Way, thanks to $45 million in federal money announced on Monday.

Mayor Laura Cabott called the funding announcement "huge" for the city.

"This would be a major undertaking for most cities. For the City of Whitehorse, this is a mega undertaking," she said. 

The money from the federal Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund will go toward realigning a section of Robert Service Way — one of the main arteries into the city's downtown — and the Millenium Trail away from the base of the escarpment. Work will also be done to regrade the slope, and plant vegetation to limit further erosion.

It will be a "long-term, permanent" solution to the landslides that have become an annual springtime concern in the city, Cabott said.

The city saw its first major landslide in recent memory in 2022, when a massive amount of mud, rocks and debris was loosed without warning from the slope above Robert Service Way, blocking the road and the Millennium Trail, and spilling into the Yukon River. The road closure continued for weeks while the city cleared the debris and built a protective barrier alongside the roadway.

More landslides followed that year along other parts of the escarpment downtown, and another in spring 2023 again forced the closure of Robert Service Way for a period.

By then, "a new reality was setting in for us," Cabott recalled on Monday.

"We knew that we needed to explore a permanent solution for this section of Robert Service Way."

This spring has seen more slides along that part of the escarpment — including this past weekend — though nothing as large as in 2022. Last week, the city installed a larger barrier at the base of the slope there, in anticipation of more slides.

Landslides 'a new and increasing threat' in the North

Harjit Sajjan, federal minister of emergency preparedness, was in Whitehorse on Monday to announce the new funding alongside Cabott, Yukon MP Brendan Hanley, and other local officials. 

Sajjan said it's about building resiliency as climate change poses new threats to infrastructure.

"In the North, we see the effects of climate change every day. Floods and fires are worsening around the territory. Melting permafrost is creating new hazards to highways and community infrastructure. Landslides are a new and increasing threat," he said.

"We know that climate change is here to stay, and the impacts will only become more devastating and severe as time goes on."

Cabott said the $45-million project to realign Robert Service Way will be the "largest infrastructure project that we have ever undertaken."

She said the first step will be design work, and developing a request for proposals for an engineering plan. She couldn't predict what kind of disruptions there might be for Whitehorse residents once the work gets underway.

"The escarpment is right there, the river is right next door, and trying to create a situation that is safe ... that people can move in and out, will be quite a challenge for us," Cabott said. 

She estimated it will be about five to six years to complete the project, but said that may change as "the dial is changing all the time."

"It will undoubtedly come with challenges, but just as we as we have done in dealing with the changing escarpment, year after year, we will rise to the challenge. We will continue to learn and plan for the future and we will find a permanent solution to this situation."

Cabott said that in the meantime, city residents should be prepared for more potential slides and road closures in the weeks or years to come.