SW Fairmount Boulevard is officially a no-go, after a landslide and several downed trees made one of Portland’s favorite hill routes unsafe, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. PBOT has closed the road from SW Marquam Hill Road to SW Mt. Adams Drive and is telling everyone to respect the barricades while crews assess the slope and clear the mess.
PBOT advisory and closure details
According to the Portland Bureau of Transportation's Facebook post, the closure covers the stretch between SW Marquam Hill Road and SW Mt. Adams Drive and was triggered by a combination of downed trees and a hillside slide. PBOT is asking people not to drive, bike, or walk around road-closure signs, to watch carefully for others traveling through the area, and to flip on headlights to stay visible in the gray and rainy conditions.
Storms have raised landslide risk across the metro
The National Weather Service issued a Flood Watch for northwest Oregon this week and warned that heavy rain can loosen slopes and spark landslides and debris flows in steep parts of the region, including Portland’s West Hills, according to the NWS in Portland. Crews were already dealing with slides in other trouble spots, including a closure of the Historic Columbia River Highway and several other local shutdowns in recent days, as reported by KPTV.
How to travel while the closure remains in place
PBOT’s rainy-weather guidance sticks to the basics for staying safe on slick streets: slow down, turn on headlights, and steer clear of standing water whenever possible, according to the Portland Bureau of Transportation. The bureau also keeps a 24/7 Maintenance Dispatch number available for reporting hazards. Anyone who usually relies on hill routes like SW Fairmount should expect delays, give work crews plenty of space, and check local alerts before heading out.
