It is confirmed, the meeting regarding the effect of the Rocky Creek Viaduct on Emergency Services, if any, will take place this Thursday at MAF at 10:00 am, with a follow-up question and answer period at the BSMAAC in Oct.
Tag: road conditions
Rocky Creek Viaduct Emergency Services meeting.
This from the Cal-Trans Engineer. I sent him contact info for Maia Carroll, Monterey County Communications, Martha Karstens, and Frank Pinney. Also, as Martha points out, CHP and MCSO should be in the loop. I will post all information about this project, including the final date and time of next week’s meeting, as soon as my Internet allows.
Hello Big Sur Locals,
I’d like to give you the opportunity to meet with the Caltrans Resident
Engineer to go over any questions or concerns you might have before
construction gets underway. We just had the “pre-construction” meeting
with the Contractor yesterday so now is a good time for this meeting. I
was thinking Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of next week (August 28, 29,
or 30) at the Monterey Resident Engineers Office at 1529 Highway 68,
Monterey, CA 93940. Please let me know if you’d like to attend and which
day is best for you.
I was wondering if anyone knows who, emergency services wise, should be
invited to this meeting in case I’ve missed anybody. Emergency services
impacts during construction will be one of the topics discussed. Thanks.
I, Kate, will be doing my best to attend, and will report on the meeting. I also need to schedule a meeting with the new Supervisor for the Willow Springs Maintenance Yard, the Big Sur Maintenance Yard, as well as the Foreman for the Rain Rocks/Pitkins Curve project. I will be really busy next week, if I can set all this up. I do have personal and work matters next week, also, so it may be the following week before I can follow through on it all.
Rain Totals & Dirt Road Report
First, so none of you panic, I have had no reports of any problems on Highway One, thus the “dirt” in my title. A couple of yahoos showed up at my place a bit ago, on foot. They had gotten themselves stuck in a “ditch” in the middle of the road. I sent an email to Sherry Tune about this. I have been literally begging the USFS to grade this road for YEARS! Last time it was graded was the Plaskett II fire of 2000. These yahoos are really lucky that Rock Knocker just happened to stop by my place today, or they would be outta luck. My neighbor’s car is in the shop, and Rock Knocker is giving him a ride on Monday to go pick it up, and I won’t go out when conditions on Plaskett are this bad, so I would have lent them my phone to call 805-927-HELP, Cambria AAA, who is the only one who will come up here, and it is damn expensive!
On to rain totals, my gauge read .9 this morning, which is all that I recorded for yesterday’s downpour. I have doubts about the accuracy of that reading, however. Debbie, in Big Sur Valley, reports just under 1.5 inches for that neck of our neighborhood.
Warmer, drier weather supposedly on the way for this next week.
Cloud Seeding Program off Big Sur Coast
XT has posted an article here: Cloud Seeding Article
about a cloud seeding program being proposed by the Monterey County Water Resources Agency. I have confirmed his story independently. The earliest the seeding would begin would be the end of January. Seeding, while controversial, has the potential to increase rainfall by 20%.
These are the concerns I have voiced so far:
Obviously, I have some serious concerns about this as we on the South Coast, seem to be directly in the path. Of course, the road up Chalk Peak has always been fragile, to say the least, and after the Chalk Fire last year, only a lot of faith and hope has held it up. Chalk Peak is the only way in or out for at least 12-15 people. Plaskett Ridge Rd. is in dire need of repair. It hasn’t been graded since 2000, and the storm of October 13th took a horrible road and turned it into a nightmare. The Hermitage is also in jeopardy, although I know they have been working hard to shore things up, so-to-speak. At Limekiln State Park, the damage from the Chalk Fire has not even been repaired, yet. Mud flows and debris flows could permanently close that park with the current fiscal situation in the State.
Additionally, there are at least three Cal-Trans projects down here currently going on that could be significantly impacted, if not stopped altogether by any decision to seed the clouds, and I think the appropriate Cal-Trans staff should be consulted, as well. XT reports that no EIA or EIR is being prepared, simply a negative mitigations report, which should have to take into consideration the horizontal drain project 1 mile north of Ragged Point; the rockshed at Rain Rocks; the bridge at Pitkins Curve; and the Gambo Tieback project just south of Packard Beach, as well as the damaged hillsides from the Chalk and Basin Fires.
The water situation in the Salinas Valley Ag community is reaching critical stages, Lake San Antonio is at 33% capacity. Lake Nacimiento is at 13%. I know their concerns, and why they would want both Lake San Antonio and Nacimiento to be at their fullest levels by the end of the season, but at what costs?
Frankly, this is a frightening possibility for the South Coast, particularly for those in or near the footprint of the 2008 Chalk Fire, and for the entire Big Sur Coast that sits in the footprint of the Basin Complex Fire.
From XT: “A hearing, at which the MCWRA Board will be asked to certify a Mitigated Negative Declaration for the project, rather than a full Environmental Impact Report, will be held on December 21 at 1:00pm at 893 Blanco Circle, in Salinas.”