Arizona Highway Buckles Due To 'Geologic Event'

A ‘geologic event’ closed a northern Arizona highway Wednesday, after a 150-foot section of pavement buckled.

U.S. 89 in northern Arizona is closed in both directions about 25 miles south of Page.

Residents in the area reported what they thought was an earthquake Wednesday morning, but geologists say it was a landslide. The Arizona Department of Transportation says the buckling was not related to the weather.

“There’s three lanes, there’s a passing lane, the passing lane going up is the one that dropped, and the whole section to the west of that is also down,” said Jason Yazzie, Navajo Division of Transportation.

ADOT says traffic will detour around the closure by using U.S. 160 and State Route 98, adding 45 miles of driving.

Northbound traffic on U.S. 89 can’t go past U.S. 89A, which takes traffic west toward Jacob Lake. Southbound traffic on U.S. 89 can’t go past the junction with State Route 98 in Page.

According to ADOT, it isn’t known how long the stretch of U.S. 89 will remain closed south of Page.  Crews are on the scene deploying geotechnical engineers to investigate.

For highway conditions, visit www.az511.gov or call 511.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.