Senator YOUNG. Now you may proceed, Colonel, with the other subject that we are interested in. Colonel HARDIN. Sir, I was not here during the earthquake nor in the post earthquake reconstruction period but I welcome this opportunity to make an official statement on the L-K slide area because there has been a great deal of misunderstanding as to the corps' role and responsibility. Since I was not actively involved in this, I have brought with me Mr. Warren George who I would like to have join me now. Senator YOUNG. He can sit right at the table. 49-577-70 Colone! HARDIN. Mr. George is a distinguished member of the Corps of Engineers and is a member of the bar and an engineer by profession. He joined the corps at the outbreak of World War II and was a member of General Groves Manhattan District. He later served as regimental commander in the China-Burma-India theater in the war under General Pick and after the war he came to Alaska to be chief of the newly organized engineering division of the Alaska District and in that capacity has been responsible for the planning and design of over $2 billion in military and civil construction in Alaska. It was under his supervision and direction that a board of consultants was activated to study the slide problems on Fourth Avenue and L and K Streets. He is therefore the person in Alaska who is best qualified to tell you what has happened and the corps' role and responsibilities. Mr. George. STATEMENT OF WARREN GEORGE, CHIEF, ENGINEERING DIVISION, ALASKA DISTRICT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, U.S. ARMY Mr. GroRGE. Thank you, Senator. I have prepared a statement which I would like to read. There is attached to this statement a summary of data pertinent to this L-K area slide that I would like made a part of the record. The following statements bear on the problem and are made with the view of providing a better understanding of the problem. The L-K slide was one of the major Anchorage area slides caused by the March 27, 1964, earthquake. This slide along with others in this area was investigated by an extensive drilling program undertaken in 1964 by the Alaska District, Corps of Engineers under the auspices of the Office of Emergency Planning. The final recommendations on risk classifications, Anchorage and vicinity (1964), on the L-K slide and other slides in the Anchorage area was classified by the Task Force 9 of Senator Anderson's Commission officially established under Executive Order 11150 as a high risk area until stabilization is effected. The L-K slide area recommendation contained in that document is quoted. Additional studies in the L-K Slide Area have resulted in the conclusion that a significant portion of the area may be returned to Nominal Risk classification if certain stabilization action is taken. These measures may be a combination of slope flattening, drainage and buttressing. Stabilization would permit the area landward of the graben to be returned to Nominal Risk. In the remaining area toward Knik Arin (seaward), it is anticipated that stabilization. if undertaken. may require removal of some existing buildings. The extent of such removal cannot be forecasted until detailed designs for stabilization are completed. The same design precautions should be applied in the area above the graben line as are outlined for the Fourth Avenue Slide area. In the area below the graben line and toward Knik Arm construction should be limited to light occupancy structures not over two stories in height. The committee may not be familiar with the term "graben." A graben is actually in geological nomenclature a sharp lowering of the surface area due to the slide, tending to leave a major fissure which generally results in an irregular elongated trench, like a depression. We have prepared a 35-millimeter slide to illustrate to the committee the general location of all of the Anchorage slide problems. This s'ide is a copy of the Task Force 9 document "Classification of Earth quake Risk Area, Anchorage and Vicinity." A copy of this map has been included in the material given to your secretary. The areas so classified in 1961 are the Turnagain, L-K which is under discussion today, Fourth Avenue, First Avenue, and Government Hill slides. The gravel buttress and the underground drainage system designed and constructed by the Alaska District stabilized the Fourth Avenue slide area. Evaluations (1966) indicated that the Turnagain slide area. is stable if the graded slope from the scarp to the water edge, a distance varying from 200 to 1,200 feet, is protected from extensive current and ice erosion which will occur. In order to assure this the toe of this slope must be protected by riprap. A brief review of the stabilization work on the Fourth Avenue slide area may be helpful to understanding of the L-K problem. This work was approved and construction funding undertaken by the several agencies interested: The city of Anchorage, Alaska State Housing Authority, and Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency. The Fourth Avenue project seemed justified on the basis that the highly valuable downtown area of Anchorage was in great jeopardy and that costs incurred would be reasonable in terms of value of protection achieved. I am ad libbing at this time. The cost of the value of the property downtown at the time was felt to be in excess of $40 to $50 million and the stabilization costs were in the order of $12 million, some of which were recoverable. The cost (1964) for stabilizing the L-K area was not attractive to the funding agencies. HHFA, ASHA, the State, or the city or a combination thereof. A preliminary cost estimate made in 1964 of this stabilization cost was $12 million to provide a similar gravel buttress as was done for the Fourth Avenue stabilization. This cost is in contrast to $5.4 million cost for the Fourth Avenue buttress. A frozen buttress could conceivably be built at a somewhat lower cost but this type of construction posed grave maintenance problems and was not considered by the board of consultants as a satisfactory solution at the time the slide stabilization was initially reviewed (1964). The area affected by the L-K slide was more extensive than that for the Fourth Avenue slide and further was more complicated in its configuration than either the Fourth Avenue or the Turnagain slides. This fact resulted mainly because of the complexity of the sliding mechanism. In addition to the $5.4 million cost for the buttress and incidental utility improvement for the Fourth Avenue slide, the property acquisition costs were on the order of $4 million. It was estimated (1964) that funds of $7 million would be required for property acquisition in addition to funds for grading and drainage and buttressing for the L-K slide. These figures add to a total of $19 million for the L-K slide treatment (1964). Further, to give the committee some understandings of the geological and soils problem, our investigations made in 1964 showed the following conditions to exist in the L-K area: Overlying gravels in this area range up to 45 feet in thickness. These were deposited by glacial out wash during the last ice age. More than 80 feet of clay and silt, known geologically as Bootleggers' Cove clay, underlie this gravel outwash. Silt and sand beds were found within this clay formation. These varied up to 3 feet in thickness and ran from streaks to beds. Underlying the Bootleggers' Cove clay formation are granular deposits of glacial till and outwash sediments found at a depth of 100 to 200 or more feet. To provide the best advice obtainable in studying these problems, a board of consultants was formed to evaluate the three major Anchorage slides: Fourth Avenue, L-K, and Turnagain. The consultants used were leaders in this field and are listed as follows: Dr. Ralph B. Peck, University of Illinois; Dr. Laurtis Bjerrum, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute; Dr. H. Bolton Seed, University of California, Berkeley: Mr. Stanley D. Wilson, Shannon & Wilson, Inc., of Seattle; and Mr. Thomas F. Thompson, a consultant in geological work in the cemetery area. In the stabilization tests for the electro osmosis experiment on the Turnagain slide the following consultants were additionally used: Dr. Leo Casagrande, Harvard University, and Mr. R. W. Loughney, Wellpoint Dewatering Corp. These two gentlemen have made a lifetime study of electric osmosis treatment. We thought it might be the cure for Turnagain and had hopes of success on the L-K area. It did not work out. The judgment of this board was that failure in the central portion of the L-K slide developed as a result of drastic loss of strength in the upper part of the dynamically sensitive saturated sands, silts and clays of the Bootleggers' Cove formation. This loss of strength was brought on by the shaking effect on the wet sands and sensitive clays. One zone of failure occurred at about elevation +40 feet mean sea level. An additional zone of failure occurred at about an elevation of +15 feet mean sea level. The latter affected an area downslope. This zone also showed extensive displacement particularly at the flanks. The central zone failure where the overlying materials were thinner, pressure ridges developed at the surface. To illustrate these features to this committee a second slide has been prepared. On this the pressure ridges are shown in green. The extensive graben which developed is shown in brown. This slide also shows the waterfront area in blue. Not too clearly seen is the Alaska Railroad line to Seward and Whittier, paralleling the waterfront. The heavy red line represents the east and south boundaries of the risk area. Also shown are seven major structures within the area, five of which existed at the time of the quake. These are the State Courthouse, the Knik Arms Apartments, the old Providence Hospital, converted at the time of the quake to a rest home, and the Community Hospital. None of these buildings suffered major damage, but it must be pointed out to the committee that the Knik Arms Apartment building actually moved 10 feet toward the waterfront. The fifth building, a six-story steel and reinforced concrete structure, suffered total collapse. Since the quake two other fairly major structures have been built within this area, The Captain Cook Hotel and the Legal Building the latter actually built over the highly disturbed graben area. From an evaluation of numerous individual observations, sliding began at some period after the start of shaking and then continued until the shaking ceased. The quake lasted, according to many eye witnesses, a total period of about 5 minutes. It was the considered opinion of all engineers and geologists involved in the evaluation of the earthquake sliding that stabilization would be required to prevent recurrence of sliding movement during a similar future earthquake. Task Force 9 rated the L-K slide area as "high risk" for purposes to protect Federal funding if stabilization is not effected. The Corps of Engineers through its various offices have been approached by U.S. Senators Stevens and Gravel, ASHA, the city of Anchorage and others in the interest that some method could be found to improve the high risk classification of this area. As a result of these many inquiries, the Alaska district has been in communication with the administration of the Alaska State Housing Authority-ASHA-and the city of Anchorage and after review of the work to be done has suggested that funds in the amount of $250,000 be made available for the reassembling of the board, accomplishing certain new test work, and for a reanalysis of all pertinent factors in connection with this slide. In the considerable correspondence that has taken place with Senators Stevens and Gravel, the city of Anchorage, ASHA and HUD (Department of Housing and Urban Development) it has been made clear that under its authorities the Corps has no way to budget for such work. The original investigation studies and stabilization work were financed by the Office of Emergency Preparedness (formerly the Office of Emergency Planning), ASHA, through the Federal Housing and Home Finance Agency, Urban Renewal, the State of Alaska and the city of Anchorage and it is only through some Federal agency with major interest in the redevelopment of such an area that this work seems likely to be funded. The Alaska district stands ready to join in the continued studies of this problem once financing is arranged. It is recognized by this district that while real estate values have increased considerably in the area since 1964 there have also been increases in construction costs. Both these factors are important in considering the economic aspects of this review when made. Although the district cannot assure the committee that there will result from any reanalysis an acceptable solution in terms of costs, it is our recommendation that the study and reanalysis be made if funding is possible. That is the end of my statement, Mr. Chairman. (The summary referred to in the statement follows:) SUMMARY OF Data, U.S. ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT, ALASKA the people of the State of Alaska have experienced death, injury, and property loss and damage of staggering proportions as a result of the earthquake of March 27, 1964. The President . . . has declared a major disaster in those areas adversely affected by the earthquake.. The Federal Government and State of Alaska desire to cooperate in the prompt reconstruction of the damaged Alaska communties . . . 1April 2, 1964. |