Region : Panel Wants Road Open
A state task force has recommended that a small stretch of California 39 in the Angeles National Forest not be abandoned.
Wallace J. Rothbart, chief of Caltrans’ project studies branch for Los Angeles and Ventura counties, said a task force of engineers and geologists will recommend that the state continue maintaining the 4.4-mile stretch near Crystal Lake, about 8 1/2 miles north of Azusa. The task force estimated that it will cost $27 million to reopen the road. Rothbart said the state engineer will make the final decision.
Last September, Caltrans and U.S. Forest Service officials wanted to abandon the road, which has been closed since a 1978 rainstorm washed out 500 feet of asphalt and tossed rocks onto the highway.
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