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[genocache]

I know some of you have heard about our fires last year, one of which was the Dolan Fire(man made) down in Big Sur. Well this week they got 12" of rain in some 36 hours and a debris flow occurred and washed out the Highway. Going to take a while to fix........

The local news channel story;  https://www.ksbw.com/article/both-lanes-of-highway-1-now-in-the-ocean-in-big-sur/35369062

[diffwhine]

Unfortunately it loos like they won't let us view this on this side of the pond...

"Sorry, this content is not available in your region."

I'm sure its listed somewhere else, but a bit crazy when news is restricted to regions. Or maybe Haslemere is now in Myanmar and nobody told me...

[Rog-from-Bix]

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/us/big-sur-road-collapse-trnd/index.html

A link that should work here. looks like a lot of work to fix

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/us/big-sur-road-collapse-trnd/index.html

[diffwhine]

That looks like a bit of a challenge...!
Mind you - the speed they rebuilt the collapsed freeway raised sections after the last big LA earthquake suggests that this won't be insurmountable.

[Noddy]

makes our potholes look a bit puny

Alec

[Ndrwdz]

Unfortunately it loos like they won't let us view this on this side of the pond...

"Sorry, this content is not available in your region."

I'm sure its listed somewhere else, but a bit crazy when news is restricted to regions. Or maybe Haslemere is now in Myanmar and nobody told me...

Some people decided that, instead of complying with the EU regulations on cookie consent etc, they would avoid the need to comply by banning access from users in the EU (et al). Lazy perhaps, but if it's only 0.001% of your audience then it might be the most cost effective thing to do.

[Davidss]

The nearest equivalent in the UK, that springs to mind, is the repeated landslides that cover and close the section of the A83 known as 'Rest and be Thankful' in Scotland.
In recent history these have been happening since 2007. (See the section titled Road Closures).
While a lot of money has been spent on creating protective features (fences, bunds, debris collection ditches) I note current estimates are '10 years' to find and create a more stable alternative road route.

The latest action to protect the existing route is to plant trees on the ground above the A83.
Taken from a report in the Daily Telegraph:
"(Dec 2020) A scheme costing just half a million pounds begins to plant 250,000 trees on the mountain. Their roots can stop landslides before they start, preventing long delays and even 60-mile detours caused by some slides.

Around 400 acres above the road in upper Glen Croe will be covered in birch, oak, blackthorn, willow and other water-tolerant species. It is the first time in the UK such a large tract has been planted to stabilise a slope. ... The effects of the trees binding the soil will be felt almost immediately, according to Government foresters, and the scheme could help ensure the existing road can continue to be used."

I am not attempting to say the Big Sur situation is more or less severe than the A83 situation, just attempting to set a realistic comparison.

Regards.

[andrewR]

Driving up the Rest after recent heavy rain is a bit of a game of roulette. You keep your foot down and hope you get through while there are no slides. The ones last year even washed out and covered the old military road at the bottom, and now an "Alamo" 6 metre high barrier has been thrown together to try and protect this relief road. It's like driving through a war zone on the relief road there is so much earth and rubble thrown up in massive banks and holes.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-55191160

It feels similar to driving over Rogers Pass in Alberta/BC after heavy snow. There is a minimum speed limit and you're not allowed to stop until you're through the avalanche zone.

[gilbo]

Wow - that's a big shame Gene

Driven HWY1 many a time in the early 90's when I was over. Such a lovely drive - especially with a nice bit V8 burbling away under the 'hood'. Sadly not a Land Rover!
Was good just to be able to pull over, admire the views, go down onto a beach, risk a swim!!! All without any parking restrictions or charges ....... unlike here!

Still I guess the authorities will have it fixed in no time?

[34058]

The nearest equivalent in the UK, that springs to mind, is the repeated landslides that cover and close the section of the A83 known as 'Rest and be Thankful' in Scotland.........

There's also the Mam Tor road in Derbyshire.  They gave up mending that in 1979 because it was so unstable.  I remember going up and down in before it was closed for ever.  It was quite steep and never looked entirely stable.

David.

[BigH]

Highway 1 is stunning and well worth a drive down if ever you are in California.

Mam Torr is equally stunning and well worth a visit if ever you are in Derbyshire.
http://www.rural-roads.co.uk/winnats/winnats5.shtml

[Wittsend]

Mam Torr - Isn't that known as the shivering mountain ?

[Peter Holden]

It certainly is, I have driven the road many times when it was open, sometimes it was like driving up steps when the road had cracked and the dumped a load of tarmac in it.  The 2 alternatives to that road are both quite difficult very minor roads, either Winnats pass or the road through Edale that goes round the back of Mam Tor.

Peter

[Genem]

The Rest and Be Thankful - you'd understand that when you reach the top - is an interesting site. A few hundred years of over-grazing by sheep and the consequent removal of vegetation is probably a lot to blame. The old Military Road in the valley floor was rebuilt to act as a bypass but as above, it too has been overwhelmed by the larger falls. I've actually stayed in the little house just below the top of the Pass, the farm was owned by a friends family... We've also run "Green Road Runs" in the Forestry to the south of the glen.

The A84 through Glen Ogle has a similar issue but less publicity.... Notable that these are not minor roads, the A83 (Glen Croe) and the A84 ( Glen Ogle) are about the only two roads up the West Coast, if you want to reach Oban or Fort William from Glasgow you are pretty much going to have to use one or other of them.

Result is a major re-consideration of traffic routes in the whole area, looking at diverting traffic onto onto the "new" military road built to service Faslane and the nuclear storage site at Coulport, bridging a number of lochs to shorten journey times out to the West Coast. The Norwegians would simply have built a string of tunnels from Glasgow to Oban :-)

https://www.thenational.scot/news/18742415.a83-rest-thankful-replacement-options-include-bridges-tunnels/

[genocache]

I suspect if they really want to they can put a span across that in a couple of months. It was done a few years ago when the town of Big Sur was cut off by moving earth taking out the current bridge footings.

The detour around this slide is 197 miles.

Here is one of the landslide mitigation efforts on 1 ;  https://earth.google.com/web/search/big+sur/@36.01080151,-121.52474408,47.89637239a,393.41773041d,35y,0h,0t,0r/data=CigiJgokCfMXD4O0a0NAEUQsl5cMakNAGQ90YPEYZl3AIXQOLG5jaF3A