[UPDATE 2:19 p.m.: OPEN TO ONE-WAY TRAFFIC CONTROL] [Videos] Unexpected Full Closure of Hwy 36: Even Emergency Vehicles Barred from Passage
Fallen trees and debris completely block Highway 36 at the site of ongoing slide activity near mile marker 16 on April 12, 2025. Even emergency vehicles are unable to pass as crews work to clear the area. [Photo by Gloria Erickson]
Slide on 36 [Image from Adam Kuntz]
Video from Jeremy Kurtz.
Video by Adam Kuntz
UPDATE 2:19 p.m.: According to Caltrans, “Route 36 is OPEN TO ONE-WAY TRAFFIC CONTROL east of Swimmer’s Delight (PM15-16) in Humboldt County. Please drive with caution through the area and be prepared for delays as crews continue working to remove slide material.”
Earlier:
- Slide Closes State Route 36 Near Devil’s Elbow, No Estimated Reopening Time
- Slide Closes State Route 36 Near Devil’s Elbow Again
- State Route 36 Remains Closed Due to Active Landslide
- Route 36 to Open for Limited One-Way Traffic Saturday Evening, Full Closure Resumes Sunday Morning
- Highway 36 Hazards: Community Gathers to Hear the Latest on the Grizzly Slide and Road Repairs
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Awesome! The more that promptly comes off of it, the sooner it might be over with!!
Heavy equipment already on site, what’s that a hour of work for a motivated crew? But when the government steps in and oversees any job it turns into a full day, just gross and disappointing .
Yup. In the old days. With a D6 CAT the debris would have just been pushed into the river… which is probably were it belongs.
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Earthquakes push the mountains up.
Gravity pulls them down.
Rivers take the sediment back to the sea.
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Go figure.
Remember Carl’s Slide years ago. A friend with front end loader contracting with Cal Trans was first on the seen. He scooped 2 loads of debris dumping it into the canyon. Cal Trans showed, stopped him saying your polluting the river. He said “what would have happened if this road wasn’t here”? The Cal Trans engineer was not happy. He said “fine, you’re paying me by the hour”. That slide dammed up the Eel River for 20 minutes. Took about 2 weeks to get 101 opened.
>”Earthquakes push the mountains up.
Gravity pulls them down.
Rivers take the sediment back to the sea.”
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Eh ? Pretty weird… somebody disagrees with this ?
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Must be a Newsomite.
Moron alert.
I was wondering how the meeting went in Bridgeville on April 4th. Did anyone have any useful ideas on getting around this pain in the butt site. About now I think it is time to dump the crap over the side of the road and into the river EPA or not. It would not take long with a Cat. Playing the EPA game is just jackass crazy at this point!
Until the sediment dams the river, and the water washes out the road for weeks. See above
I am not sure what you mean by “See above.”
Here’s Dottie’s report on the meeting: https://kymkemp.com/2025/04/06/highway-36-hazards-community-gathers-to-hear-the-latest-on-the-grizzly-slide-and-road-repairs/
This seems like it’s going to be another Big French Creek case on 299. Everyone might be driving on the river bar in summer as a detour.
Is anyone old enough to remember a time when they weren’t working on 299?
In the last 60 years at least? I don’t think there’s been one single year that something wasn’t being cleared or reworked. I certainly remember when many of those sketchy s-curves still existed and you had to roll the dice when pulling a trailer that you hugged the outside line close enough and not clip an oncoming vehicle. Or get motion sickness. Much faster drive to Redding now.
On another note, from looking at 2022 Google Earth imagery. at 40°28’57″N 123°54’57″W if you look closer, and west then to the NW and N of Devils Elbow turnout it looks like a fault line in the trees that trails from the roadway, uphill to the NE that seems to fit the engineers report that this is a much larger slab that’s going to come down. Pre-2022 and ’24 quakes. I’d be interested in what aerial views they had since it’s started moving, if available. Not the obvious powerline cut, but the faint line in the trees wiggling along.
Kim, thank you again for posting the meeting information.
I guess the mountain decided it doesn’t want a road there anymore. Yikes.