After just walking from Tuna Canyon to Big Rock to get around the latest “slide,” which turned out to be a bit of dirt in the highway that could have been removed in 15 minutes, I’ve got to ask the fire department chief who decided on this closure, what happened to common sense. Apparently he was concerned about a rock that might come down. Of course, the rock might also not come down and in spite of a loader trying to undermine the hillside to get the rock to move, for the half hour I watched, the new Malibu rock was, excuse me, rock solid. And for those of us who remember the last rock that might come down and that closed the coast highway for several months, sometimes it’s better to leave these things alone. That one refused to come down until a number of attempts to dynamite it finally resulted in a crack.
Someone needs to ask what the unintended consequences of this and other highway closures might be. How many accidents or deaths result from shutting down PCH as people struggle to get to their homes and workplaces? How much do our businesses lose and how many paychecks go unwritten because of closures? There is a cost to this and someone isn’t using common sense.
And how dangerous is the rock? While I was watching, one Caltrans worker went right under the rock and took a picture. Others walked slowly by, probably wondering why they had to stand around in the rain while the big equipment tried to get the hill to move. A local TV cameraman shot a bit of video that was on the 4 o’clock news. Various essential vehicles were let through this dangerous bit of the road-things like a lunch truck and a cable TV vehicle.
The Caltrans crews and fire department have done a great job so far in a very rainy season, but this is just silly. Oh, don’t try parking your car on one side of the slide and walk. The sheriff prevented us from walking on the shoulder. We just heard that one lane would be opened tonight. Apparently someone has decided that the rock won’t hit that lane. Incredible.
Scott Dittrich