San Luis Obispo County work crews made progress repairing and reopening local roads damaged by the Jan. 9 storm—though some residents remain stranded by closures.
In what was dubbed a “miracle” of a public works project, county contractors successfully completed a temporary fix at Chimney Rock Road, which had closed Jan. 9, isolating more than 100 residents on the south shore of Lake Nacimiento.
County officials initially estimated it’d take months to repair the unstable section of road that traverses a culvert. But after an attempted boat evacuation of south shore residents didn’t receive any interest on Jan. 13, officials decided that a quicker fix at Chimney Rock was possible by collapsing the road and rebuilding over it.
Souza Construction completed the work in a few days and it reopened to area residents on Jan. 15. The road remains closed to the general public.
“It’s a temporary repair, but it’s a sturdy temporary repair,” said Paula McCambridge, a spokesperson for the SLO County Public Works Department. “The expectation is it will stay in place until a plan for the permanent road is ready to go. It’s important because there are a handful of isolated communities in the county as result of the storm. Wherever residents are basically stranded, we need to find a fix. That’s one of our No. 1 priorities.”
As of Jan. 18, two areas of the county remained completely cut off from services due to road closures: Upper Lopez Canyon Road (near Lopez Lake) and Avenales Ranch Road (near Pozo). McCambridge said that crews are in the process of evaluating the next steps for those roads, which both saw substantial flooding and damage.
While about 40 county roads remain closed, some key streets reopened recently, including Avila Beach Drive and Ontario Road near Avila Beach, and Thompson Avenue in Nipomo. Others, including Corbett Canyon Road near Arroyo Grande and Orcutt Road in Edna Valley, are still closed.
According to officials, damage to some roads and bridges is so extensive that it will take months before they’re repaired and reopened. SLO County estimated that the countywide damage likely exceeds $50 million.
County roads are not the only throughways impacted by the storms. A section of Highway 1 near Big Sur is closed, from the San Simeon elephant seal viewing area to Lime Creek, due to a rockslide and storm damage. That closure has boxed in some residences and businesses, including the Ragged Point Inn.
“The winter storms have hit us hard! … Highway 1 is closed in Big Sur, and there’s a major rockslide blocking access to the south,” the Ragged Point Inn recently posted on Facebook. “Unfortunately, we have to close the resort for the first time any of us can remember.”
Caltrans officials said the stretch of Highway 1 won’t likely reopen for several weeks or months. On Jan. 13, Caltrans sent a convoy to transport isolated residents across the road closures to access supplies in Big Sur. In a Jan. 16 press release, Caltrans said that it will try to arrange another convoy in the future.
“The road has sustained new damage in several areas, which will need to be assessed to determine when a convoy may be viable and if there may be a necessary reduction in the areas through which the convoy is able to travel,” the state agency said in the press release. ∆
This article appears in Jan 19-29, 2023.