Caltrans and Shea Construction Punch Emergency Rd Through 101 Slide

Kym Kemp / Thursday, March 31, 2011 @ 9:04 a.m. / Humboldt ,  News

Last night at 1am Caltrans and JF Shea punched through a road on the 101 Slide for EMERGENCY VEHICLES ONLY!

Thomas Norris, a consultant employed by Caltrans, worked a full shift in Miranda yesterday at the job just south of there, then worked a shift at the 101 slide. I reached him as he was heading back out to work this morning again. He said they had started construction work on the slide and they are working “24/7” to get the road open for everyone.

Shea has been working on the Avenue and was able to get machines quickly over to the site.  They got the emergency contract at 2pm yesterday, had a meeting at 3 to determine best course of action and by 7 pm were on the slide. By 1 am a road for fire trucks, ambulances and other emergency vehicles only was shoveled through the enormous quantity of dirt that had slid down yesterday morning.

UPDATE 9:53:Dan Gribi will be flying Diana Totten, Clif Clendenen and Tom Madsen Mattson of the Hum. Co. Dept of Public works (County roads) around the southern half of the county today. Diana will be pointing out the vast amount of slides that are happening throughout the area as well as traffic patterns as folk attempt to go around the 101 slide using back roads.

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Photo taken yesterday by Kim Sallaway

Hat tip to Diana Totten for the information about JF Shea being the construction company. She hopes that local dump truck operators will be hired to do much of the work.  I hope she’s is right and will ask when I get hold of Shea.

9 comments

  • nick bravo Thursday, March 31, 2011, 9:10 a.m.
    It’s a real wake up call to just how vulnerable our roads are! One big eatrthquake and humco could be totally isolated from the rest of the country. Everyone living here should have a 6 months supply of food and water, and seeds for planting. Four big landslides and you could literally shut off all the transportation for a longtime.
  • nick bravo Thursday, March 31, 2011, 9:12 a.m.
    The landslide is a good arguement for why we need straighter more reliable roads. Would more bridges be the answer?? That’d be something to ask the board of supes.
  • bobbi Thursday, March 31, 2011, 9:25 a.m.
    I agree with people being more prepared to go it alone or with their neighbors.
    I once tried to get a ‘road’ group together (just a few households) to discuss who had what skill set or equipment or abundance to share or trade. Everyone here is soooo independent . I never got any where with that course of action.
    Maybe now people will be a bit more open minded about needing their friends and neighbors if a long term disaster comes our way.
    (And I know my friends and neighbors would be there for each other, I was just trying to plan ahead.. that’s the issue.)
  • RAMDX Thursday, March 31, 2011, 10:40 a.m.
    Kym,

    Does this mean the rally to save Richardson Grove will be changed to a different date? It was scheduled for April 1.

    http://saverichardsongrove.blogspot.com/2011/03/friday-march-18-rally-canceled.html
  • scott g Thursday, March 31, 2011, 10:52 a.m.
    Tom *Mattson*

    Great coverage, keep up the good work.
  • Massive slide on 101 « Sohum Parlance II Thursday, March 31, 2011, 10:54 a.m.
    […] http://kymkemp.com/2011/03/31/caltrans-and-shea-construction-punch-emergency-rd-through-101-slide/ […]
  • Kym Kemp Thursday, March 31, 2011, 11:23 a.m. In response to scott g
    Thank you, Fixed it!
  • Kym Kemp Thursday, March 31, 2011, 11:47 a.m. In response to nick bravo
    That is a great idea. When the ‘64 flood happened, my parents helped feed the neighborhood from their food storage.
  • Kym Kemp Thursday, March 31, 2011, 11:51 a.m. In response to RAMDX
    RAMDX, Jeff Musgrove just posted at about 11 this morning on his Facebook (normally I wouldn’t pass out info from Facebook w/o permission but this is about a public meeting so I’m sure it will be okay) Friday, April 1: 12:00pm - 4:00pm RALLY FOR THE GROVE @ Garberville Town Square
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