Two landslides at White Hill west of Fairfax closed Sir Francis Drake Boulevard on Monday and Wednesday, cutting off a crucial route between West Marin and eastern Marin. The slides follow two previous ones in the same location, on Feb. 21 and 23, each of which closed the road for about a day.
Heavy rains this winter—83.42 inches of rain have fallen at Lake Lagunitas as of March 7, according to the Marin Municipal Water District—have destabilized trees and loosened soil at the hillside at Baywood Canyon Road.
After Monday’s slide, the Department of Public Works cut down two trees on the hillside, removed a loose mass of dirt that was unstable and reopened the road. But a significant chunk of the hillside sloughed off in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, with a valley resident alerting people that it had closed as early as 12:30 a.m.
It was “such a large amount of soil that it pushed the K-rail”—a rail that can stop cars—“to the middle of the road, so we’re talking about a lot of force,” said Julian Kaelon, spokesman for D.P.W. He said work was paused until PG&E shut down power lines, which would affect 2,400 customers. Once power was cut on Wednesday evening, crews would clear the road and remove loose soil from the
hillside.
Many commuters used Lucas Valley Road to get around the closure, but a small portion of that road has only one open lane operated by light control, since January storms undermined it.
The long snake of traffic prompted Supervisor Dennis Rodoni’s new aide, Rhonda Kutter, to email a picture of the situation to Liza Crosse, former Supervisor Steve Kinsey’s longtime aide who stayed on for a few extra months. Ms. Crosse called D.P.W., leading to in-person traffic control on Wednesday. “We have asked for traffic control on weekday mornings” whenever White Hill is closed, Ms. Crosse said.
The closure is inconvenient to many. Emma Rigge, a San Anselmo resident who works as a care attendant in Woodacre, ran out of gas in the village after taking the detour, which turned a 15-minute commute into an hour’s drive. Luckily a kind resident brought her gas.
The multiple closures and openings bring uncertainty to her mornings. “It’s been touch-and-go whether it is open,” she said.
Wendy Kallins, a Forest Knolls resident, said her neighbor couldn’t get to work and that the closure blocked teenagers from reaching Drake High School. “Obviously, we need a long-term solution.”
Mr. Kaelon said that long-term solutions are “more of a research situation right now. I know it’s one of the main arteries to and from West Marin, so we’re definitely aware of its necessity.”
Ms. Kallins had a meeting yesterday evening in Mill Valley and a Saturday meeting in Fairfax. To reach Mill Valley, she would use Lucas Valley Road, but for Fairfax she planned to drive as far as she could and then walk the trail to town. “It’s not going to save that much time, but it’s about the psychological value of not going all the way around,” she said.
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