From Caltrans
On Monday April 17th Mud Creek and Paul’s were opened late in the morning due to the rain event and the time it took to clear the road for safe passage. In addition the evening opening of Mud Creek did not occur without prior notice.
Mud Creek is very dynamic during rain events and for several days after. Yesterday morning when the crews arrived there was significant mud flow and the road took a long time to clear before it could be made passable. The crews worked diligently all day and had expected to have the road open for the evening opening. However later in the day the fog rolled in and the slide activity did not decrease. Due to the fog the crews were unable to continue working as the spotters were unable to see the slope above the workers and it was deemed to be unsafe to continue working clearing slide material and also unsafe to open to traffic.
We will do our best to get an email notification out if this occurs again. But due to the dynamic nature of Mud Creek during rain events we suggest using Nacimiento Ferguson Rd due to unplanned closures of Mud Creek.
We also appreciate your patience when opening times are delayed due to the overnight slide activity and the additional time that may be needed to open the road in the morning at both Paul’s Slide and Mud Creek.
My sincere apologies to those who were caught off guard.
So glad PV didn’t have school on Monday so we didn’t get caught up in all of that! I can imagine what a mess it was! Willow Crk Rd. was a real mess with the various mud “slicks”.
just imagine if you had to drive in 36 inches of snow!
Driving through Mud Creek is more akin to driving through an active avalanche.
bigsurkate
How in the world did everyone survive driving on the highway during winter in years past before they decided to put up gates and lock is in/out?