Palisade Repair Progress

Recently on the DSP&P forum, Justin Kerns, who has been an important part of the move to repair the Palisades, west of Alpine Tunnel, described the current work.

Below are some excerpts from his comments: 

The Palisade repair is scheduled to be completed during summer of 2024 with the heavy work happening next summer. This summer rock scaling is being done so there will be weekday closures of the road below Woodstock. Sherrod Loop will not be accessible during these closures nor will you be able to hike from there to the west portal.  Weekends will be fine, however. 

I asked him to explain "rock scaling."

They will be taking down all loose and semi-loose rocks from above the Palisades down to the old wagon road below the wall. This will be done along that whole stretch as it is prone to rockfall. It is being done to increase safety for the construction during the rebuilding of the Palisade Wall, as well as the safety of hikers/drivers along the grade. The wagon road below the grade is also being improved enough to support movement of heavy equipment to the base of the wall. This will be necessary next summer. Although the wagon road above the grade has been in use as Wiliams Pass since the railroad days, the road below was abandoned long ago and is in need of some improvement to support the repair work. The scaling work is being done on weekdays only and is expected to be completed by 7/8. 

Next summer (2023) the heavy work will commence. The wall will be taken down further in order to be rebuilt properly in its original form. There is an outside chance this will be completed next summer (2023) but most likely will spill into summer 2024. It all depends on the weather.

I know it's a long time in coming, but I am so grateful that good, long-term-minded, work is being done to repair this incredible historical site, and making the road to the west portal open once again.

For a more complete look at the plans for the repairs, including diagrams, and more, see this post from 2021.

Below is a video I took when our family visited the Palisades in 2018.  At roughly 4:50 you can see the damage to the rock wall.