This was sent to me by a reader. It was taken yesterday. Any of you taking that road, please take photos and send to me at kwnovoa@mac.com Please do NOT send them to me via FB PM, as I can’t always download those. I have sent this photo on to County and to Cal Trans. We need to keep an eye on our only way in and out and let the people responsible know what the speeding, overloaded trucks (probably Cal-Portland, the blue trucks, witnesses report) are doing to this road. I will try to get my own photos on Thursday. BTW, this section of road was JUST repaired after the storms and before the convoys started.

Wednesday, we left for town – they all have to be an overnighter, unless it is a quickie in King City. That is when we saw the Cal-Portland unannounced convoy with 8 trucks. It has been reported to me by a reliable source that these 8 loaded trucks were not headed to the bridge, so where were they going? Someone sneaking in a private project when there is no oversight? I am curious, and will do what I can to try and find out.

UPDATE ON CAL-PORTLAND: “Hey Kate the Cal Portland company is repairing the area between Paul’s and the bridge. Today they were working on the 2 slips south of Lucia. They dumped about 1/2 of the road base in our lower parking area. I am not sure where the rest of it went. I’m sure some went by Lopez point. Just thought I’d let you know what I’m seeing down here. It is nice to see some of the damage getting worked on, but really scary that it all has to come over naci.”

Thursday, we got caught in the announced convoy.
We got to a very wide turnout on Nacimiento, east of the Pinedorado Campground, with a lot of empty trailers parked on the side of the road. We were greeted by this:

It was only 4:30. The Cal Trans press release seemed to say that passage between 4 and 5 was okay. I was perturbed, but no use, so relaxed with it. We were only the second car to arrive at the road block, and this nice CHP officer, when an hour of waiting concluded, lined us up in the order in which we had arrived. We visited with Robert Willett and Kate Healy, and a few others, but basically just relaxed in the shade.

The convoy was about 18-19 trucks, give or take 1 or 2 as I stopped counting at a dozen, then realized what I was doing and started up again, adding 2 for what I figured I missed. They were transfer trucks. What happens is that the trucks unhook their trailers and leave them by the side of the road, then go dump the load they have. These were probably the same type of “super 10 yards” (which are actually 15 yards, per a trucking friend with Windsor) that we saw by Cal-Portland trucks we saw on Wednesday, but these were Granite and a few private ones. After they dump the truck load, they come back and load the transfer onto the truck, leaving the trailer bed behind. Once they dump the contents of the transfer, the come back and load the transfer on to the trailer bed, hook up and take off.

Quite the operation. I do not know if the Cal-Portland trucks did the same thing, or not, as it was not a Cal Trans sanctioned convoy, and may have been commissioned by a private party. I did find the newly installed East side sign, not too far inside the forest boundary:

And there are always silver linings:

A beautiful room at the Nine Iron on Moonstone Beach:

And here is a better one of Missy:

Dinner at the Sow’s Ear with a friend:

And paratrooper drops on FHL:

 

Two final items of note, I have been working with a very cooperative county Public Works representative, and will obtain a copy of the latest bi-annual bridge inspection report in about 10 days or so – they are in the middle of moving their office.

Finally, Cal Trans current projected opening dates are, from north to south:

*Pfeiffer Bridge – end of Sept. 2017

*Paul’s Slide – end of July 2017

*Mud Creek – June 2018

REMINDER: PAUL’S SLIDE CLOSES TONIGHT AT 7;30 PM THRU TUESDAY, JUNE 6TH, UPDATE EXPECTED MONDAY.

New sign at the bottom of Nacimiento at Highway One. Where’s the one for people coming over to the coast?

For the second time on a Wednesday between the scheduled, announced convoys we ran into another unannounced convoy. This was yesterday, 5/31, and  was 2 lead vehicles, 4 of the  super 10-yard trucks and 4 transfer trucks, which were super 10 yards pulling a loaded trailer. If a 10 yard exceeds the weight limit, then a transfer truck sure does. Hmm, here are the 4 trucks I saw pulling trailers of the 8 total. The little bridge I posted about is getting beat up. I will post the replies I have gotten, and next actions I will take.

 

From Senator Bill Monning’s Office;

“I spoke with Caltrans today and they informed me that the State investigated all structures prior to the first convoy several weeks ago and found it has the capacity to handle legal truck loads as defined by the vehicle code. As you are aware, the Department is not the owner of the road in question and therefore not responsible for the signage. However, we are responsible for the biannual inspections of the bridge and the load rating of the bridge. Monterey County has their own reasons for signing Nacimiento Creek Bridge under its rating.”

From MoCo Public Works:

“We have looked into this matter and the sign placed is an advisory signs for trucks. Our records indicate that the bridges along Nacimiento-Fergusson Road are capable of carrying loads legally allowed per the California Vehicle Code. However, the road is steep and narrow and thus the placement of the warning sign.”

Interesting that they say the above, and then post a brand-new sign.

I guess my next step is to try to get those biannual inspections from the County and for the state investigation.

 

“

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.
·
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:

CALTRANS ANNOUNCES NEXT CONVOY TO PFEIFFER CANYON BRIDGE

MONTEREY COUNTY – Caltrans will continue the process of delivering construction equipment and materials to the site of the demolished Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge on State Route 1 via Nacimiento-Fergusson Road from US Highway 101 on Thursday, June 1.

These convoys will be escorted by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and will include intermittent closures of Nacimiento-Fergusson Road on Thursday, June 1 from 8 am until 7 pm. Motorists wishing to travel east/west in the morning must do so before the first convoy begins. On Thursday, motorists will encounter delays during the movement of these four convoys westbound from 8 am to 10 am and 2 pm to 4 pm and eastbound from 11 am to 1 pm and from 5 pm to 7 pm. All vehicles must not exceed 30 feet in length and a weight of 15 tons.

The Thursday convoys will include the remaining 50% of the rock and sand necessary to create concrete abutments for the new bridge. Future convoys will transport two mobile batch plants, two concrete boom pump trucks, vacuum trucks and rebar cages. This equipment will be used to construct concrete abutments and overall construction of the new Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge (PM 45.52).

The steel girders for the new bridge continue being fabricated at a plant in Vallejo, CA. They have begun being moved to a plant near Stockton for painting before they are shipped to Pfeiffer Canyon. This $24 million project is expected to be open to the public in mid to late September.

HIGHWAY 1 UPDATE – MONDAY, MAY 29 AT 5:30 PM:
PAUL’S SLIDE ON STATE ROUTE 1 CONTINUES TO BE FULLY CLOSED THROUGH TOMORROW MORNING, BUT WILL RESUME LOCAL/DELIVERY ACCESS AS OF TOMORROW, TUESDAY, MAY 30 EVENING. THE RADAR MONITORING SYSTEM CONTINUES TO BE IN PLACE. LOCAL ACCESS AND DELIVERIES AT THE PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED TIMES WILL RESUME TOMORROW EVENING, MAY 30. WE WILL CONTINUE RE-ASSESSING AND AND AN UPDATE PROVIDED BY MID-DAY THURSDAY, JUNE 1.

STATE ROUTE 1 REMAINS FULLY CLOSED IN BOTH DIRECTIONS AT MUD CREEK DUE TO CONTINUED SLIDE ACTIVITY. DELIVERY VEHICLES AND LOCAL RESIDENTS WILL NEED TO USE NACIMIENTO-FERGUSSON TO EXIT SOUTH OR TO CLEAR THE ACCESS TIMES AT PAUL’S

These were taken Saturday and Sunday by various people, including Inga Dorosz, Richard Wangoe, Connie McCoy, and Rock Knocker.

MUD CREEK:

Inga Dorosz

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Rock Knocker

PAUL’S SLIDE

Richard Wangoe

Connie McCoy

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Rock Knocker

TECHNOLOGY – GADGETS

South Side of Mud Creek by Inga Dorosz

South Side of Paul’s Slide by Rock Knocker

Designed for open pit mining, you can read about this technology here (thanks to Inga Dorosz for the link):

Slope Monitoring Radar

BTW, many local residents reported almost constant flying of Mud Creek yesterday. Inga spoke with one CT guy on the ground and was told they were using LIDAR in the air and sending the info back to the GPS by his car. The Slope Monitoring Radar information will be sent via satellite to Colorado where it will be monitored in real time, once work begins again.