Progress made with boulder removal at site of rockfall and landslide in Lyon County
Over the past week, rock removal experts have harnessed up and scaled the roadside slope to remove unstable rock remaining on the slope above the landslide, which fell across roughly 400 feet of State Route 208 through the Wilson Canyon, between Smith Valley and Yerington.
According to the Nevada Department of Transportation, workers and equipment staged to the sides of the landslide area have worked to safely break apart and haul off large boulders which fell onto the roadway as part of the landslide.
In fact, in just one week of recent work, crews cleared almost one thousand cubic yards of rock from the outer landslide areas. See the video below.
Crews will continue to break apart and haul off the large boulders and earth over the coming weeks. Once the large debris area is cleared, roadway repairs will then be made.
While NDOT hopes to temporarily open the road to one-way traffic in future weeks, an exact schedule to reopen the road is not finalized. In the meantime, the roadway remains closed to through traffic between Hudson Aurora Road and State Route 339.
Alternate routes are sparse in the rural area. Highway detour routes include using U.S. 395, U.S. 50 and U.S. 95A to travel between the Yerington and Douglas County areas.
The Lyon County Office of Emergency Management also reminds residents that Mason Pass Road is only recommended for high clearance and four-wheel drive vehicles.