Mud Creek (PM 8.9) – MUD CREEK HAD A MAJOR SLIDE/SLIP OUT AT 9:30 PM, SATURDAY, MAY 20—IT LOST MILLIONS OF CUBIC YARDS OF MATERIAL AND REMAINS IMPASSABLE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
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Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6)— Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6)—ACCESS FOR LOCAL RESIDENTS AND DELIVERY VEHICLES ONLY THROUGH THIS FRIDAY, JUNE 2 ONLY.
AS WORK NEARS THE NARROWEST SECTION OF ROAD AT THIS LOCATION, WE ANTICIPATE INCREASED SLOPE INSTABILITY ABOVE THE ROAD AND AN INCREASE IN MOVEMENT OF SLIDE MATERIAL AND ROCK. CALTRANS NEEDS TO FULLY CLOSE THE ROAD DURING THIS PERIOD (SATURDAY, JUNE 3 THROUGH TUESDAY, JUNE 6) TO ENSURE PUBLIC SAFETY. WE ANTICIPATE RESUMING NORMAL HOURS OF LOCAL/DELIVERY ACCESS ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7. ANOTHER UPDATE WILL BE PROVIDED MID-DAY ON MONDAY, JUNE 5.
IMPORTANT NOTE: THE ROADWAY THROUGH PAUL’S SLIDE CAN CLOSE DOWN AT ANY TIME WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE . CALTRANS NEEDS TO CONTINUE RE-ASSESSING THE SITUATION AND DETERMINE WHETHER LOCAL ACCESS CAN REMAIN THROUGH PAUL’S SLIDE.
· 12:00PM Monday / Wednesday / Friday– A single caravan south and a single caravan north, you must be in line by noon! There may be up to 45 minute delay to clear the road before the opening.
· Delivery vehicles (Restriction is 30 feet maximum length and 50,000 lbs. maximum weight) can now use all access windows 7 days a week.
· Access times for the morning and evening are still the same except for Friday:
5:30AM to 6:00AM and 7:00PM to 7:30PM – Sat.-Thurs.
· Friday’s hours will be shortened to:
5:30AM – 8:00AM and 6:00PM to 7:30PM
· The noon opening will be for PAUL’S SLIDE ONLY, (NOT MUD CREEK); you will need to use Nacimiento-Fergusson Road to exit the coast.
The targeted “public access” date of early July needs to be re-assessed with recent activity, public opening date could be pushed further
Paul’s Slide photos:
“Delivery vehicles (Restriction is 30 feet maximum length and 50,000 lbs…” wonder who is reading this. That’s about 10 tons over the capacity of the FHL bridge.
Are they actively working over the weekend or are they just afraid of what might come down into the road while they are gone? I can see monitoring it and closing the highway if there is something sizeable that blocks the lane, but to shut it down completely over the weekend just because something MIGHT come down seems ridiculous. They could very well have one person there just during the preassigned hours to open the gates and clear the roadway if needed. Is this going to become the norm every weekend until they are done now? When this project started it was said they would be working 24/7, but that was only the case when they were doing the soil nail wall. Since the earth moving started it seems they are working maybe 10 hours a day and only 5 days a week.
Jon, your guess is as good as mine. Both of us would have to drive down there, probably, in order to find out, but since the closure also includes Monday and Tuesday, I am hoping it is because they are truly working. We saw the flaggers go home over N-F on Thursday around 5:30 or so. So we know they stopped work by 5 and then opened it back up for the window at 7. I am guessing that is the guy/gal in the trailer’s main job to open and close the gates.
One thing is clear to me throughout this process down here (can’t speak for the bridge) that no one seems to care a rat’s ass about the locals.
bigsurkate
I will go down tomorrow to see if there is work happening. They have no regards to the locals and how much of a not only an inconvenience, but a burden this puts on the locals. I’m starting to believe what someone told me more and more; This is “the mans” way of trying to get all of us unruly Big Surians to conform to their rules.
I really want to know who came up with the idea to put up the gates. I want to go install some in their driveway and only allow them to pass through twice a day, or as often as I feel it “safe” for them.
Sounds like a plan, Jon. I don’t buy into the the controlling Big Surians theory, I think it is a liability issue. Cal Trans has been sued more and more when people make their own stupid mistakes and then blame Cal Trans for insufficient or inadequate warning. Also, I hear from tourists who don’t bother reading the signs and drive right on up to the locked gates, or fence at the bridge. Can’t be manned 24/7/31/365. Still, I really don’t think any of the contractors care one way or another about us, and Cal Trans is not making it a priority to them. Let me know what you find out/see.
bigsurkate
Well the good news is that they were working today.
The bad news is that when they have these extended closures no one, including emergency vehicles, can go through the slide area.
That means that anyone between Paul’s Slide and Gorda will have to wait for first responders to come from FHL or King City if they have a medical emergency or vehicle accident.
Luckily there is still USFS at PV and/or Naci. I was reassured by a local USFS Ranger that there will always be an engine at either one of those stations. Unfortunately, they only really handle wildland fires and have as of recent, have had their hands tied even more when it comes to responding to anything other than a wildland fire.
Always a good news/bad news situation now-a-days, eh?
There is always helicopter if the medical emergency is serious, I suppose.
bigsurkate
The problem with the helo is they usually won’t land unless first responders are on scene.
Then all we can hope for is no emergencies, first responders can make it, or they make an exception if no one can get there. Just keep praying, Jon.
bigsurkate
It will hopefully figure itself out shall the time come. It just goes back to them not considering the locals at all and the resources both sides of the closure are cut off from during these times. I speculate that if one of the workers was injured during one of these full closures, they would make sure emergency equipment could make it through to provide aid to them.