Repairs to Washed-Out Highway 35 To Take Months

SANTA CRUZ (CBS SF) -- One of the Bay Area's largest mudslides and the gaping hole it left in Highway 35 may not be repaired this year, according to a transportation official.

Caltrans officials are giving no estimate for time of repair of highway near Castle Rock State Park. A spokesman for the state agency told KPIX 5 that "chances of it happening this year are slim".

In early February, a large mudslide took out a 150-foot section of highway, about a mile south of the park entrance. It uprooted several trees and sent debris cascading hundreds of yards down the steep mountainside.

Currently, a two-mile section of the highway has been shut down between Castle Rock Road and Las Cumbres Road.

The closure has attracted so-called "disaster tourists", eager to see some of the region's worst damage.