Forum Discussion

louiskathy's avatar
louiskathy
Explorer
Apr 26, 2017

New slide near Leggett, CA blocks 101 - facebook video

Facebook-Wendy Kombert posted this video

New slide near Legget,CA blocking hwy 101
Video posted 14 hours ago on facebook.

One of the comments on the video...
" I want to see the footage that the Cal Trans guy was taking, who was literally just FEET away from that slide. Love it when the horn sounds. That must be the "**** just got real" horn!"

for those that don't have access to view a video posted on facebook I'll try to describe it.
It a dark and rainy night on hwy 101... road crew is on the scene of a potential slide... small rocks are seen sliding and tumbling down toward the road from above. Large lights shine on the hillside. A few guys in hard hats are on the road, ahead of the stopped line of cars..., looking up. More rocks fall and tumble...more and more than an air horn blasts a warning and those hard hats hussle back to safety in the nick of time. The hillside comes down, takes out the wire mesh barrier and blocks the road.

The audio on the video is basically the verbal reaction of the female taking the video.

I don't think hwy 101 is going to open anytime there soon.
  • CT guys and gals know slide areas pretty well. Less danger for them than you may believe.
  • Slides have been frequent here, the west coast has been wet to say the least this spring and slopes are unstable.
  • Caltrans is predicting the road will be closed until May 15.

    We were planning to drive that stretch headed north on Friday.

    I guess we will have to take I-5 to Red Bluff and CA-36 west to US-101 at Acton,

    or should I go up to Redding and take CA-299 to get to Eureka?
  • Take CA 299 to Arcata, CA 36 is not a good highway as it's quite crooked and narrow in many places. If driving a motorcycle CA 36 is lots of fun, but anything else is slow and not recommended.
  • When you are accustomed to standing in one place and leaning on something, it's difficult to move out of the way. Surprised they got away.
  • 36 is fine for experienced mountain drivers. 299 is a better option if its open.
    Have a smooth trip.
  • CA-299 has two slide repairs in progress - one of which they open the highway for one-way traffic once per hour. The other is alternating one lane traffic.

    I'm being advised to expect an extra hour and a half to two hours for those delays tomorrow.

    CA-36 has 3 slide repairs between the Shasta/Trinity County line and US-101. Delays might be up to an hour or hour and a half according to Caltrans. And a construction delay in Tehama County.

    I didn't find CA-49 north of Mariposa to be a big challenge, even the Merced River crossing down grade/ up grade.

    I'm not sure which I'm going to take in the morning, be will be on the way early.
  • Today in Eureka, I learned that US-101 is now open for some traffic on a one-lane most of the time.

    (They are having the season opening car race at Eureka, and several folks from Ukiah pulled their race cars/ trailers up 101.)