Chunk of Calif. coastal highway falls into Pacific

Started by garbon, March 18, 2011, 10:46:02 AM

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garbon

March 18, 2011, 10:46:02 AM
The roads in America really are collapsing during this time of economic strife.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110317/ap_on_re_us/us_highway_slide

QuoteEngineers on Thursday were working to figure out when they'll be able to reopen a stretch of California coastal highway that collapsed into the ocean, blocking traffic to the scenic Big Sur region.

A 40-foot section of Highway 1 crumbled just after 5 p.m. Wednesday following several days of rainy weather. The entire southbound lane is gone, and the soil under the northbound lane also was giving way.

No one was injured in the slide, the California Highway Patrol said. Authorities have closed the two-lane road to traffic indefinitely.

The collapse occurred south of Carmel near Rocky Creek Bridge, one of the iconic arch bridges that make the stretch of roadway, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, one of the country's best known scenic drives.

California Department of Transportation officials told The Monterey Herald they would know closer to the end of Thursday when the road would be reopened.

The closure comes as spring tourist season is about to get under way.

"There is too much going down here to allow an extended closure," Alan Perlmutter told the newspaper. Perlmutter is a partner in the Big Sur River Inn, one of the many inns and lodges that depend on the dollars of tourists drawn to dramatic coastal vistas, where forested mountainsides plunge into blue seas.

Other inns and restaurants reported a mix of no-shows and guests who were forced to stay longer because of the blocked road.

The best alternate route to Big Sur from the north would require drivers to take Highway 101 inland through the Salinas Valley and drive over a steep, winding mountain road to the coast, adding at least an hour to the trip.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Pishtaco

#1
March 18, 2011, 12:18:50 PM
Crap, I'm supposed to drive past there next week.

Strix

#2
March 18, 2011, 12:31:17 PM
I told Jaron he needed to diet.  :menace:
"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." - Margaret Thatcher

PDH

#3
March 18, 2011, 04:39:55 PM
That was about 20 miles north of where my Mom lives.  Pretty road, unfortunately pretty good at washing out too.
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

The Brain

#4
March 18, 2011, 05:32:52 PM
The US is unpaving as we speak.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

HisMajestyBOB

#5
March 19, 2011, 12:18:00 AM
Quote from: The Brain on March 18, 2011, 05:32:52 PM
The US is unpaving as we speak.

Spending money on road repairs is big government.
Three lovely Prada points for HoI2 help

Tonitrus

#6
March 19, 2011, 12:19:02 AM
Quote from: The Brain on March 18, 2011, 05:32:52 PM
The US is unpaving as we speak.

We must: Gather our armies.

Darth Wagtaros

#7
March 19, 2011, 06:16:46 AM
I say we put all the welfare people to work.  Pit them against the Big Public Unions and let them compete for the right to work and receive pay for paving.
PDH!
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