Crews rush to stabilize part of Santa Monica Bluff overlooking the Pacific Coast Highway
Geologists and city engineers are rushing to remove a crumbling piece of the Santa Monica Bluff overlooking the iconic Pacific Coast Highway.
"This is something that really could cause a lot of damage," said resident Sean James.
Two weeks ago, started forwarding a video showing the massive fissure in the middle of two gigantic pieces of compacted dirt on the bluff. In the video a part of the cliff appears ready to drop onto the Pacific Coast Highway just below.
"You don't have much time on that freeway. If something were to fall down, there's nowhere to go," said James.
The video eventually made it to the screens of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors who ordered Santa Monica to examine the potentially devastating mound of dirt.
"We can't really pinpoint whether that will break off in a year, in 10 years, in a month or tomorrow," said Santa Monica Public Works director Rick Valte, who added that the city isn't willing to wait to find out.
Starting Tuesday around 10:30 p.m., crews will use a crane to carefully scrape away the soil column at its weak spot, without disturbing the rest of the bluffs. Valte said the unstable portion is about 4,000 cubic feet of dirt that has been compounding for thousands of years. He estimated that it would take about 15 dump trucks to haul it away.
"We've had an exceptionally wet winter season," said Valte. "And we've noticed that quite a bit of the bluff has sloughed off during the very wet winter season."
The city hired a consultant to analyze the bluffs and determine problematic areas in June because of the historic storms passing through Southern California.
Valte said the city is grateful for the residents' keen eyes that could help officials avoid a tragedy like the Rancho Palos Verdes landslide.
"If this column were to find separation from the rest of the bluffs," said Valte, "It's highly likely that much of it would fall onto PCH, and that could be a safety concern for passengers."
The work might cause more traffic than usual on the Pacific Coast Highway while closures are in place. For the full list of street closures click here.
