There is a sink hole of the south bound lane in front of Caltrans. Today they are investigating the source of the problem, or why it is sinking, and then tomorrow, they will start working on correcting it.
I have circled the sink hole. One can see the edge of the road on the left.
Where? I didn’t understand the reference to “in front of Caltrans”
The Willow Springs Caltrans station next to Gorda
Not surprising. Caltrans and Gorda sit on active slides. If you look up to the top of the hill behind Caltrans you can see the headscarp where the slide is pulling away from the mountain.
Right next door, the front of Gorda slid years ago, I think it must have been in the 90’s or very early 2000’s. The mailboxes slid down the embankment with all the mail in them, but people scurried down the slide to retrieve the mail!! Then the retaining wall got built.
What’s fun/scary to think about is that geologically speaking, much of the Padres are actually rising at 2-5cm/year with regards to sea level/local GPS vertical datum (geodesy is complicated). As much as these kind of slides look like erosion from below, which it is, slides also develop as a result of “orographic uplift” resulting in mountainsides being shed away, especially when heavy with water and originally comprised of colluvium.
Lilly Philly is is right about the the Gorda slide many years ago. The beaches right below used to be the elephant seal colony until the big slide pushed them farther south.