Santa Cruz Mountains dwellers beg sightseers to stay home
QSome of us have been driving Highway 17 for years and this year is worse than any in memory. When all alternate routes are also closed, it is almost unbearable not being able to get home.
Heather Hedstrom
AIt’s been more than two weeks of hell and more rain is rolling in this weekend.
QCan you help get the word out to stop people who are driving up into the mountains to “sightsee” the Skyline Boulevard washout and others? Our roads are extremely fragile and with more storms coming we are worried that the last remaining route out for hundreds of families (Black Road) will be lost as well. Unnecessary extra traffic right now is not what the roads, or any of us, need.
Missy Norquist
AYou aren’t the only one begging sightseers to stay away.
QAs you know, roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains are a total mess. Highway 17 is barely open, State Route 9 has been closed for weeks, Highway 35 collapsed south of Castle Rock State Park, and county roads on both sides of the ridge are failing at a record rate.
Unfortunately for those of us who live in the communities near the top of Black Road, that is now our only way in and out. And Black is hanging by a thread, with county workers there almost every day clearing new slides and removing fallen trees. If we get another serious amount of rain in the next week or two, Black is likely to close and we’ll be cut off.
Already Black is heavy with extra traffic, some curious to see the crater on Skyline, others headed to Castle Rock and oblivious to the road closure ahead. Some are parking by the roadsides and walking past the barricades to the gap in the highway, returning to their cars later to find they’ve been ticketed. Onelane controls are back and now causing delays in both directions. What used to be a 15-minute drive from Highway 17 to Skyline could now be 30 minutes or more.
I would ask you to remind your readers that Black Road no longer provides through access to Castle Rock, Los Altos Rod and Gun Club, or to Highway 9. Mountain bikers cannot park at Sanborn-Skyline Park, and roadside parking on Skyline may get them ticketed.
Robert Easo
AAnd one more warning …
QBlack Road has two areas where the earth is sliding, causing one lane to be closed and putting the entire road at risk of falling down the hillside. Yet dozens of valley residents are coming up Black each day to attempt to access Castle Rock, Sanborn Park or the Los Altos Rod and Gun Club; all of which are inaccessible due to slides.
Locals have made signs and are turning people away at the bottom of Black, before visitors attempt the futile trek up the mountain and further weaken the road. Maria Daane
AOK, you got the last word. Folks, stay away.
QWith all the landslides on the highways this year, what does Caltrans do with all the mud they are scraping off the roads?
Karen Casner Sunnyvale
AThe state has contracts with local landfills.