Dean Creek Slide After Dark During the Storms over the Weekend.

The large bright lights towards the center come from heavy equipment working.

Caltrans Press Release:

 Caltrans announced updated information for the Dean Creek slide repair site located approximately 60 miles south of Eureka. Over the last several days as significant winter rain drenched the north coast, the Dean Creek site experienced some erosion on the lower face of the repair, according to District Hydraulics Engineer Sebastian Cohen. “The lower buttress of our repair project has a soil layer over rock that has eroded and slid down the face to the roadway below,” Cohen said. “With any new engineering structure like the Dean Creek repair, we expect a small amount of soil to move and we will be making small changes this week, such as placing matting over the face of the repair to hold the soil in place. This will also help with vegetation growth over time at the site.”

Another expected development was the emergence of ground water on site as significant rains fell on the area. “Caltrans will be making small modifications to the drainage system as the rains have shown us where a new ground water source has developed and where we could improve the drainage to make it more efficient,” Cohen said.

Over the weekend, one lane of northbound Route 101 was restricted as concrete railing was set in place to allow soil to safely descend the face of the buttress. “The railing was placed as a safety precaution to catch any superficial soil movement,” Cohen said.

“A lot of effort went into the Dean Creek slide repair. We want to reassure the public that the repair itself has not moved or shifted and that the small changes to the site we will be performing this week are to be expected for this type of project. Rain events, like we had over the weekend, show us where to make adjustments to the site,” Cohen said. Caltrans crews will also monitor the site daily.