Roads Administration will repair rockfall barrier after 10-tonne boulder breaks through

Iceland’s Roads Administration will repair a gap in the rockfall barrier at Holtsnúpur beneath Eyjafjöll after a large boulder broke through on Wednesday, but moving the road is not currently planned, mbl.is reports.

The boulder, estimated at 10 tonnes, was unusually large compared with rocks that have typically reached the road. Svanur Bjarnason, the Roads Administration’s regional manager for the south, said specialists would assess what further measures might be possible, including whether the road could be relocated.

“The area below is very wet, and the road would have to be moved over a fairly long stretch for it to work,” Svanur said. “That would be a much bigger undertaking than the barrier we built. If it had been an easy solution, we would of course have done it straight away.”

For now, the agency will only close the gap, rather than extend the barrier. Svanur said it had been designed to catch most rocks of the size usually seen there, but that exceptions could occur.

Before the barrier was installed, its performance was modelled using rocks weighing about three to five tonnes, including one similar in size to the rock involved in a fatal accident last year. The agency is now reviewing the situation, but Svanur said a final decision would take time.