County to Fix Slide on Salmon Creek Road

Slide: Salmon Creek 2006

Thomas Road residents will be delighted to know that Humboldt County placed the 2006 slide, above the Starks’ ruined home, out to bid.  Estimated costs run around $750, 000.  The plan, according to Chris Whitworth from the Public Works Department is to “snug the road into the hillside.”  The winning contractor will excavate the soil from the inboard side while detouring traffic to the outside.  Rock buttress will be placed against the hill and geo grill, “a fabric that can take tensile stress,”  will go in the roadway.  The idea is that if the road slumps again (and there is a gigantic slide area above that can’t all be excavated) then the fabric will keep the roadway relatively intact, “retaining
drivability,” unlike the shattered asphalt in the photo above.  For some time after the first slip, residents had to ferry groceries and gas for generators across the damaged area to waiting cars.  The idea is to decrease the possibility of that ever happening again.

Whitworth explains that heavy equipment will “go into the hill quite a bit.   There will be temporary delays” for through traffic.  The initial estimate is that the delays should not exceed 20–30 minutes.  Any delays of a longer duration will be posted and attempts will be made to contain them to the less heavily trafficed hours–between when people race to work and school and before they return home.  Working hours for the crew are expected to be  7am and 5pm.  The project is expected to last less than three months–beginning some time after mid May and ending in August.

__________

Post about the slide destroying the home of volunteer firefighter, Wayne Stark and his wife, Cathy .

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olmanriver
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olmanriver
14 years ago

great news… rumor needing confirmation has it that briceland road from ruby valley to briceland is gonna get some serious work done too. they have been cutting back the weeds heavily in preparation. it must be that amazing obama healing factor Everyone is talking about!

bluelaker4
Guest
bluelaker4
14 years ago

Has the road looked like this picture ever since it happened? Or has there been a temporary fix?

Lisa
Guest
Lisa
14 years ago

Good times! I like our community when we are in crisis mode, we all get along better. One common “enemy”, or something like that.

Ren
Guest
Ren
14 years ago

Right on! Hello Stark family!

Will this help you out too, Kym? It just so happens that I wrote about Humboldt roads about thirty minutes ago!

Staff
Member
14 years ago

No, the road has been “fixed” with a dirt mess that isn’t undriveable just nasty. I think they were waiting on a combo of money and to see how far the road would continue to slump. Ren, that part of 101 you wrote about is called the Slab and was extremely scary. My grandfather Kemp helped punch that through many many years ago.

Ben
Guest
Ben
14 years ago

I once blew a tire on the “Slab”.. really scary and I changed the tire by candle light, really stupid. Just another dumb hippie courting disaster. Glad to hear the road will be repaired, it’s dangerous for those who don’t know the dip is there… not well signed. Kym.. your grandfather must have known how to use dynamite.