Lake residents isolated after part of Chimney Rock Road collapses
Temporary repair will provide access to cut-off communities
Temporary repair will provide access to cut-off communities– By this afternoon, it is expected that stranded residents will have a safe road to travel from their homes off Chimney Rock Road where they have been stranded since Monday’s storm, according to the County of San Luis Obispo Department of Public Works.
With no alternate road for the lakeside communities including Running Deer Ranch, Cal-Shasta and Tri-Counties neighborhoods, residents have sat in isolation— many without electricity, and propane running out for others.
Chimney Rock, a segment in the 1,349 miles of road maintained by county public works, was one of more than a thousand calls public works received in the four days following the storm. Damage across the county is being inspected and prioritized based on impact to public safety.
Engineers and other experts were immediately dispatched to Chimney Rock to assess the situation. From above, the road looked safe, and even the culverts below ground were intact, but standing on the asphalt, the sound of falling earth could be heard. Stormwater had washed away soil between the road and the culverts underneath, creating a large void under the road.
To repair the road as it stood would have taken up to a month, which wasn’t an acceptable timeframe, according to the county, so alternative plans were considered. In the end, to save time on repairs without compromising safety, the decision was made to collapse the road and implement a temporary repair.
Public works and the local contractor, Souza Construction, are working 24/7 to get the job done quickly.
“That decision to collapse the road meant we were going from what would have possibly been a month-long repair to one that will be potentially completed by the weekend,” said Public Works Director John Diodati. “There was a sense of urgency to provide access to these residents by getting this temporary repair finished before the next storm hit.”
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