Damage Closes Highway

Wildfires and flash floods caused so much damage to California 18 that the venerable route linking Southern California to San Bernardino County’s mountain resorts will remain closed at least until May, officials said.

The October wildfires that raced through the San Bernardino Mountains produced such heat that they “baked” some big boulders along California 18, making them susceptible to breaking up. When flash floods hit on Christmas Day, torrents of muddy water carried the rocks onto a scenic three-mile stretch of the highway south of Lake Gregory.

The flooding from the storm -- which killed 16 people who were swept away at campsites in Devore and Waterman Canyon -- formed perilous cliffs along the eroded highway with a guardrail dangling above them. Several sections of the highway caved in, and engineers said building new bridges might be the only way to get traffic back on the road.

When highway officials surveyed the damage, they found boulders larger than sport utility vehicles littering the road, along with fallen trees and banks of mud. At several points, the earth beneath the road had given way, leaving gaping holes that dropped hundreds of feet.

“It’s not just patching up potholes; this is going to be long term,” said Holly Kress, a spokeswoman for Caltrans, which says the work will cost at least $3 million and perhaps much more. “We’re going to have to take it back to our design group.”

For now, drivers traveling in Crestline are diverted to Crest Forest Drive, a two-lane county road several miles north of California 18 (Rim of the World Highway). Crest Forest Drive runs through a mostly residential neighborhood, and some residents are upset about the increased traffic it has brought.

“It’s like a freeway out there,” said Bud Beyer, who works at Franklin Auto Supply on Crest Forest Drive. “It’s a 25-mph zone, and people are flying through at 50. Our customers are having a heck of a time coming in and out.”

Traffic problems are expected to worsen in the next few weeks when Caltrans re-slopes a one-mile stretch of California 138 known as the Crestline Cutoff. The project, expected to take two days, was to have been completed by last October, but the wildfires forced a delay.

The Crestline Cutoff is the only remaining thoroughfare between San Bernardino and Crestline. That means commuters who drive the steep, 12-mile stretch of California 18 will have to find an alternate route for a few days.

The shortest way up the mountain follows California 330 north to Running Springs, then goes west on California 18 to the Crestline area, where a detour takes drivers to Crest Forest Drive. It’s an extra hour of driving with good traffic.

Caltrans officials said work must be done before another storm, which could cause much more damage to California 138.

“If we don’t repair it [the Crestline Cutoff], we could lose it in the next storm,” Kress said.

The damage to California 18 has created such a hazard that officials have installed a chain-link gate to prevent anyone from roaming down it. Kress said Caltrans was aware of the potential for disaster. After the fires, it brought in a rock-climbing team from Oregon to assess the stability of some of the boulders.

The inconvenience for motorists might be a boon for business owners along the detour.

Naomi Longfellow, a waitress at the Loose Caboose Cafe on Crest Forest Drive, estimates she has seen a 60% to 80% increase in customers since the detour was implemented.

“We’ve had to double our help staff,” Longfellow said.

At Cappelletti’s Pizza, owner Tracy Mottley said drivers frustrated by clogged traffic often stop for dinner at her restaurant.

“People were stopping in here on their way from work to use the restroom, and the next day they’d come back with their family,” Mottley said.

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Residents and motorists are invited to two public meetings by Caltrans on the mountain road issue. The Lake Arrowhead session will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Fire Station 91. Crestline residents can attend a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Lake Gregory Community Church.