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.
