Highway Cleanup Not Due Until Summer

A massive landslide that has kept parts of California 33 closed for the last three months will probably not be cleared until this summer, officials said Monday.

During storms in February, a hillside collapsed, dumping 1 million cubic yards of earth. Although the California Department of Transportation will spend $2.5 million on the cleanup effort--and workers have been hacking away at the 40-story mound with bulldozers for weeks--continued rains have slowed things down, Caltrans officials said. Only about 250,000 cubic yards of earth have been removed so far.

That means California 33, which leads to numerous campgrounds in Ventura County’s back country, will remain closed for the Memorial Day holiday and probably through the Fourth of July, Caltrans officials said.

The slide north of Ojai has shut down a 20-mile stretch of highway in the Los Padres National Forest, from Wheeler Campground to Lockwood Valley Road. The few people living there have had to take a 120-mile detour using California 126 to get to the Ventura area. Meanwhile, local merchants who cater to campers say business has ground to a standstill.