Big Sur Landslide Being Called The Biggest In State History

May 30, 2017 rockman Geologic Hazards Comments Off on Big Sur Landslide Being Called The Biggest In State History
The Big Sur landslide or Mud Creek landslide on the PCH, the worst Caltrans has ever seen.

The Big Sur landslide or Mud Creek landslide on the PCH, the worst Caltrans has ever seen.

A massive landslide covered California’s famous Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in 35 to 45 feet of soil and rock over a distance of 1,500 feet. Caltrans is calling the landslide ‘one of a kind’ and one of the biggest in the State’s recorded history, and ‘…by far the worst we have ever seen‘. Wired Magazine has a great before and after picture to view the magnitude of this massive landslide. The slide is also being called the Mud Creek slide. It cuts off the southern route into the popular tourist destination called Big Sur. The latest information is that the highway could be closed for months, possibly even more than 1 year. [Source: More info at SFist via AEG Insider. Image: John Madonna, Associated Press via SF Chronicle]

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Devil's slide repair of PCH 1 using
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Devil’s Slide Repair and Tunnel Bypass Presentation

May 28, 2009 rockman Geologic Hazards 1

Devil's slide repair of PCH 1 using [Updated Thursday May 29, 2009 – 1:00 PM PDT] Added a photo of the AIS Kaiser S2 excavator (spider excavator), and added photos of the Devil’s Slide debris dump where they have put the landslide material removed and the material from the tunnel excavation. [/Update]

Grant Wilcox, Geology Branch Chief with CALTRANS Office of Geotechnical Design West gave a presentation on the Devil’s Slide repair along PCH Highway 1 at the Southwest Geotechnical Engineer’s Conference on May 12 in Phoenix. I’ve posted about the project here before. When I saw Mr. Wilcox, I knew he looked familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. At the beginning of his presentation he made light of his being on You-Tube…then it clicked! He gave a nice overview of the history of the failures, the geology, and the tunnel project. What follows are a few quick tidbits from his talk based on my notes. (Photo via Caltrans site).

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