Huge Washout Leaves Gaping Hole In Highway 35
LOS GATOS (CBS SF) -- Yet another highway in the Santa Cruz Mountains was made impassable by storm-related damage Friday as a washout left a gaping hole in Highway 35 near Las Cumbres Road.
The San Jose CHP office tweeted out a photo showing just how bad the damage was shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon.
SR-35 near Las Cumbres Rd closed indefinitely due to a wash out pic.twitter.com/MdFwO4iLDA
— CHP San Jose (@CHPSanJose) February 10, 2017
CHP received calls about the hole at about 3 p.m. and rushed to the scene to cordon the road off.
Chopper 5 got a higher vantage point of the washout about an hour later.
The road in that section is completely gone. It almost looks like someone scooped out a huge chunk of not only the road, but tons of earth that support the road bed.
People could be also seen standing on the edge of that hole.
The stretch of Highway 35 cuts through the Santa Cruz Mountains above Los Gatos, not far from Castle Rock State Park.
Based on the enormity of the damage, engineers are going to have a tough time figuring out how to replace that much earth and repair the roadway.
The closure is just the latest closure problem in the region where Highway 17 has been partially closed since a huge landslide Tuesday. That highway closed completely on Friday and currently has no estimated time to reopen.
A second major artery in the mountains -- Highway 9 -- was also blocked by a massive mudslide and was to be closed at Redwood Gulch Road until Saturday.