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Workers inspect new wire mesh on Foothill Boulevard slope

Joseph McElhany, of KANE GeoTech, of Stockton, ascends and descends a rock hillside in La Canada inspecting two layers of wire mesh installed to keep boulders and rocks in place along Foothill Blvd. on Wednesday, June 11, 2014.
Joseph McElhany, of KANE GeoTech, of Stockton, ascends and descends a rock hillside in La Canada inspecting two layers of wire mesh installed to keep boulders and rocks in place along Foothill Blvd. on Wednesday, June 11, 2014.
(Tim Berger / Staff Photographer)
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Three years after a boulder fell from a hillside along Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge, work is nearing completion on a $165,000 installation of wire mesh to prevent a similar occurrence.

“We’re trying to do it and maintain some aesthetic appeal in that area,” Edward Hitti, director of the Public Works Dept., explained at a meeting of the City Council.

Hitti noted the netting is less expensive and more attractive than erecting a higher wall.

The first rock fall incident took place on March 20, 2011 on property belonging to Caltrans. It was decided earlier this year that a netting made of tension wires would be installed on the slope, located near Briggs Avenue, west of Ocean View Boulevard. The project got underway May 5; workers with KANE GeoTech, the firm hired for the job, scaled the hillside Wednesday to inspect the installation.

The city may decide at a later date to add ground cover on the slope to soften the appearance of the wire mesh, if natural vegetation doesn’t regenerate there.

“We’re going to kind of take a wait and see attitude,” Hitti said.

-- Carol Cormaci, carol.cormaci@latimes.com

Follow on Twitter: @CarolCormaci.

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