![The spot on Wabasha St. that is closed due to debris from the land slide. ] JEFF WHEELER ï jeff.wheeler@startribune.com A portion of the bluff broke off above Wabasha St. on St. Paul's West Side over the weekend, closing the street until city engineers decide whether to preemptively remove some more of the bluff to prevent another landslide. The aftermath was photographed Tuesday afternoon, May 1, 2018 in St. Paul.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/IVCQ755BPNAQOJWKSJKOLGVT2I.jpg?&w=1080)
Wabasha Street on the West Side of St. Paul reopened to traffic Wednesday afternoon, after an April rockslide led to a nearly six-month engineering project.
Months after tumbling boulders prompted workers to close a stretch of the road south of downtown, motorists will once again be able to use the street. On Wednesday, crews finished putting down striping and removing fencing and barricades before reopening the street at 3:30 p.m.
Thousands of tons of debris were removed and workers built a new gabion wall alongside the sandstone cliff that abuts the street. The project cost more than $1 million, city officials said. Some temporary lane closures will continue until Oct. 31, a spokeswoman said.
Next year, St. Paul Public Works is scheduled to repave this stretch of Wabasha. Second Ward Council Member Rebecca Noecker said she is committed to working with the neighborhood to propose aesthetic improvements as part of a future capital funding request.
On April 28, an estimated 400,000 pounds of rock and soil slid down a slope that abuts Wabasha south of Plato Boulevard. No one was hurt as slabs of limestone, some as large as a mattress, slid down the bluff and shattered on the street below.
