ABSTRACT
Landslides on coastal bluffs between Seattle and Everett, Washington have posed a major hazard to transportation since the 1800s (Fig. 1). Recently, more than 100 landslides resulted in damage to property and temporary disruption of railroad service in 1996 and 1997 (Baum et al. 2000). The majority were shallow landslides that resulted from a rain-on-snow event about January 1, 1997. The January 15, 1997, Woodway landslide, which was one of the largest recent slides on the coastal bluffs, derailed several cars of a freight train (Fig. 2, W.A. Hultman & D.N. McCulloch, Shannon & Wilson, Inc. written comm. 1997, Baum et al. 1998). Additional landslides resulted from heavy rainfall on March 18-19, 1997. Rainstorms also triggered significant numbers of landslides from mid November 2001 through January 2002 (Chleborad 2003, Baum et al. 2005) and at least one of them
covered the railway and temporarily interrupted rail traffic near Edmonds on November 29, 2001 (Seattle Times 2001).
