County officials have wrapped up construction on a temporary road on the site of a landslide in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which for eight months blocked hundreds of residents’ access to main roads and emergency services.
The landslide on Mountain Charlie Road – an area where residents have Los Gatos addresses but roads are managed by Santa Cruz County – had been slowly moving since officials first began tracking it in February, delaying the timeline for when repairs could begin. The county has also been contending with the fallout of the several disaster declarations that the federal government had issued in recent years, leaving the matter of finding funding to repair the slide up for debate and leaving residents worried there was no end in sight for the fractured road.
But county officials in May secured $30,000 for a geotechnical study of the slide to assess the extent of its damage, and by August told residents they secured $500,000 to fund the temporary road with plans to put it together in about a month.
As of Saturday, Sept. 28, for the first time since February, residents could drive their cars along the affected stretch of Mountain Charlie Road. Many had previously opted to leave their cars parked just before the slide and walked over the dangerous dirt and rock from their homes south of the slide to get to work and school in Los Gatos, but some drove in the opposite direction, south to Scotts Valley, to safely turn back around to head north.
Resident Debbie Robinson said the new road has alleviated her concerns about limited evacuation routes in case of a wildfire or other emergency.
“We definitely feel a lot safer and sleep better at night knowing we have the two exit routes in case of an emergency,” she said.
Because the temporary road is not paved, Robinson said she hopes the county seals it or installs something to cover it in the event of heavy rain.
“We want to make sure that this temporary road will last us until the county can secure funding for the permanent road,” she said. “It was hard enough to get funding for this, so we’re probably looking at multiple winters.”
In addition to Mountain Charlie Road, the landslide also destroyed a private driveway just off the road, which county officials have said is not under their jurisdiction to fix. While the county would eventually cover the projected $3 million cost of permanent repairs to the road, residents would have to foot the bill for the estimated $1 million it would cost to repair their private driveway.
In addition to a 5 mile per hour speed limit, the temporary road has a 5-ton weight limit, and county officials are working on installing gates to close the road in the event of heavy rain or other dangerous conditions that could make it unsafe to use. The county is encouraging residents in the area to sign up for alerts for the road via CruzAware at cruzaware.genasys.com/portal/en to ensure they’ll be notified if the road has to be closed.
Though the county is now faced with searching for funds for long-term repairs, the new temporary road will ultimately serve as a foundation for the permanent one, meaning it won’t need to be torn down to build a new one.
“When we decide to move forward with a long-term repair solution, it’s not like this road is going to be torn down,” said Tiffany Martinez, communications officer for the county’s public works department.