Glacier Road To Reopen After Fatal Rockslide

A boulder that crashed onto Going-to-the-Sun Road in a rockslide that killed one person apparently did no major structural damage to the road, Glacier National Park officials said.

Road crews drilled, blasted and shoved the boulder - estimated at 20 to 25 tons - off the road Monday, said park spokeswoman Devon Finley.

Before reopening the road, workers will clear remaining debris, pack the hole with gravel and place concrete barriers at the rock wall. Finley said officials hope to reopen the road sometime today.

The landslide roared down onto a car on Going-to-the-Sun Road at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday.

Tsuyoshi Kamochi, 30, died when the rockslide crushed the engine compartment and dash of his rental car. His wife, Yoko, 28, was injured.

The Japanese Embassy in Washington said the two were students from the Chibas prefecture just east of Tokyo and were living in the Washington, D.C., area. Yoko Komochi plans to return to Japan on Thursday, the park said.

The slide covered about 100 feet of the road under the Rimrock, a sheer wall just west of Logan Pass.

The largest boulder, the size of a small garage, landed on the outside lane, punching through the asphalt and crushing a stretch of the stone-masonry guardwall.

Crews used dynamite to break the rock into manageable pieces and then shoved it over the edge with a front-loader.