You can shave a few extra minutes off your commute into Greenville and Quincy; both lanes of Highway 89 have reopened to traffic. Caltrans contract crews have been reconstructing the hillside near the hwy 147 junction, south of Canyon Dam, since January when rain washed mud and debris onto the road. Contractors stabilized the slide areas with rock slope protection and improved drainage and native spring flows to help minimize future slides.
Although the area is now safe to travel through, Caltrans cautions that future debris flows here and in other burn scar areas are possible.
In the case of State Route 70, the highway continues to have no hope of reopening anytime soon. It remains closed to through traffic between the Greenville Wye to Jarbo Gap due to two significant slides between Belden and Twain. Both sites remain active, preventing crews from reconstructing the roadway or stabilizing the ground above the slides. Though recent assessments and recommendations have been made, rock scaling operations are currently planned at both locations starting this week.
Efforts are being made to get the highway reopened to one-way traffic controls.
