MISSION VIEJO : Damaged Section of El Toro Road Almost Repaired
After dealing with hundreds of phone calls from angry commuters over the past three months, relieved city officials announced that a storm-damaged section of El Toro Road will reopen on Thursday.
“These have been trying times for everyone,” said City Engineer Loren Anderson. “We’ve all lost a lot of sleep over this.”
It wasn’t enough that battering winter rains washed out a 300-foot section of the major thoroughfare March 11, but the slippery soil under a quickly built detour collapsed twice while crews labored to finish the main road.
It made for an uncertain commute for thousands of residents in the hilltop and canyon areas east of the road closure.
The damage occurred just north of Santa Margarita Parkway, cutting off access to the supermarkets, restaurants and stores in the commercial districts of Lake Forest and Mission Viejo.
El Toro Road will be closed at the damage site on Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. while work crews make final repairs. When the roadway reopens Thursday, it will be for good, said Anderson.
Repairs cost Mission Viejo about $1.2 million. However, the city will be reimbursed by the Federal Highway Administration.
“We were lucky,” said Anderson. “I was told by federal officials that we had the only highway in California to be completely reimbursed for damage from that storm.”
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