BajaNomad

Toll Road to Open This Fall

TMW - 4-13-2014 at 09:32 AM

Collapsed toll road near Ensenada to re-open in fall
By Sandra Dibble6 a.m.April 13, 2014

Workers last week at the site of the collapsed stretch of the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road. — David Maung

ENSENADA — The final stretch of the coastal highway that leads to Ensenada looks out on some of the most picturesque scenery in Baja California — brush-covered hills giving way to sand-colored bluffs that drop sharply to Salsipuedes Bay on the Pacific Ocean.

But since the dramatic collapse of a 330-yard section late last year, drivers have been barred from the southernmost stretch of the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road.

Mexican federal authorities say they expect to reopen the road this fall — as early as September. Backed by extensive studies and elaborate plans, a government contractor is in the process of restoring the collapsed section to its original path nearly 300 feet above the coastline.

It is a massive task.

“If this were a normal area and not an unstable one, the fixes could be made immediately,” said

Ramiro Martínez Medina, the government engineer charged with overseeing the project. “We can’t give an instant solution. We have to make sure this lasts.”

Ground zero is kilometer 93, part of an area where the road has suffered cracks since 2011. Hoping to head off more problems, the federal toll road agency, Capufe, had contracted with a Spanish company last fall to construct a giant rock retaining wall to stabilize the hillside.

But some three months into the project, the cracks gradually expanded, culminating in the massive landslide on Dec. 28 that caused parts of the road to sink as much as 100 feet. By the time of the collapse, the road had been closed and cleared of drivers and vehicles — save for one southbound cement truck.

Today, the pieces of damaged roadway have been removed, and a contractor is busy rebuilding the road. One afternoon last week, workers poured concrete pilings — a measure intended to reinforce and stabilize the embankment that will carry the rebuilt road.

Martínez said another key measure being taken to ensure the stability of the road involves construction of a subterranean drainage system designed to capture moisture in the soil.

While “a sum of events” led to the road’s collapse, underground moisture was a major factor, said Luis Mendoza Garcilazo, a geologist at CICESE, a scientific research center in Ensenada. “The area is naturally unstable because beneath the surface is a mass that collects rainwater,” he said.

Unlike last month’s deadly landslide in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, the earth’s movements in this region of Baja California “are a phenomenon that occur over time. They give notice, they give you time to take measures,” Mendoza said.

The conditions on the road parallel a stretch of California coastline in San Mateo County that bears the name Devil’s Slide, where the scenic coastal road has had a history of landslides and closures, Mendoza said.

Even before the decision was made in 1962 to build the Tijuana-Ensenada toll road as a major tourist attraction for Baja California, geologists knew of the region’s instability.

For nearly five decades, the 55-mile Tijuana-Ensenada toll road has been an important a gateway to Ensenada and the southern part of the Baja California peninsula, a road that has been key to the development of the state's northwest coastline into a tourist area known as the Gold Coast.

The stretch of highway now closed to traffic “is like Big Sur in Northern California, so peaceful, beautiful and untamed,” said George Saldamando, a former San Diego assistant police chief whose family-owned campground just south of the collapse, Playa Saldamando, has been shuttered since December.

The toll road has also been an important artery for transporting produce, such as tomatoes, strawberries and seafood products, from Baja California to the U.S. border.

Since the collapse, drivers continue to have access to its northern 35-mile mile section, but can only connect to Ensenada by using a two-lane inland road that veers off at La Mision.

Ensenada officials fear the closure of the 20-mile southern stretch to through traffic will be felt most strongly on the alternate route during the summer months, when the annual Vendimia, or grape harvest festival, brings large numbers of visitors to the Guadalupe Valley and nearby wine-producing areas. That is also the period when growers from the San Quintin area will be shipping tomatoes and other summer vegetables, said Jesús Jaime González Agúndez, the municipality’s second-in-command.

But tourism officials say so far, fears that the road’s closure would be disastrous for Ensenada’s economy have not materialized.

The toll road’s closure “has not affected us as badly as we anticipated,” said Jean-Loup Bitterlin, head of the city’s hotel association.

“If the road hadn’t collapsed, Ensenada would be better than ever,” said Oscar Escobedo Carignan, Baja California’s tourism secretary. He said the sector has been showing a strong recovery in Ensenada, with the return of cruise ships and a growth in the domestic tourist market.

A major tourism boost should come May 3, when the twice-yearly Rosarito-Ensenada bicycle ride returns along a new route: Rather than climbing up the free road, riders are being routed for the first time down the closed toll road. A narrow graded road will allow riders to cross the collapsed section onto the other side, said Capufe’s Martínez.

“We’re excited,” said ride promoter Gary Foster. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to ride your bike on that stretch of highway.”

sandra.dibble@utsandiego.com (619) 293-1716

© Copyright 2014 The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC. An MLIM LLC Company. All rights reserved.

durrelllrobert - 4-13-2014 at 10:19 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by TW
Collapsed toll road near Ensenada to re-open in fall






The conditions on the road parallel a stretch of California coastline in San Mateo County that bears the name Devil’s Slide, where the scenic coastal road has had a history of landslides and closures, Mendoza said.













The 1-1/2 mile long Devils Slide section of highway 1 was closed for 6 years while Caltrans built a pair of 4,200 foot long tunnels, at a cost of $439 million, to bypass it as the only permanent solution to the landslides. What Baja is doing is only a temporary solution.

DENNIS - 4-13-2014 at 10:39 AM

This is the most expressive foto of the area I've seen. It may not be opening as soon as stated:

http://geo-mexico.com/?m=20140329

Ateo - 4-13-2014 at 10:46 AM

I'll tell ya one thing: I will floor it going over that section from here on.

David K - 4-13-2014 at 10:51 AM

The free road is a nice drive... and you pass one of the Spanish missions of California that you can see from the highway! (How the town of La Misión got its name) :light:

Ateo - 4-13-2014 at 11:01 AM

From 2 weeks ago:








DENNIS - 4-13-2014 at 11:52 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
... and you pass one of the Spanish missions of California that you can see from the highway!


What's left of it anyway......which isn't much. Adobe doesn't seem to stand up well to the elements.

willardguy - 4-13-2014 at 12:08 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
Quote:
Originally posted by David K
... and you pass one of the Spanish missions of California that you can see from the highway!


What's left of it anyway......which isn't much. Adobe doesn't seem to stand up well to the elements.
what did remain, they shot with gunite to preserve. not to impressive!:(

The best they could do with their budget?

David K - 4-13-2014 at 01:43 PM

That is more than at some other missions. All three sites of the Santo Tomás mission have 0 preservation done.

Here are some more photos of the 32nd California mission (San Miguel Arcángel, founded in 1787), at La Misión:


These two from Jack Swords, 9 years ago:







In 1949, from Marquis McDonald:




The wall at the far right is the same as in Willardguy's newer photo. This complex ruin was mostly built around 1790-1800. If you would like an advance look at the upcoming mission detail article, I will happily add it here.

DENNIS - 4-13-2014 at 02:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by David K
That is more than at some other missions. All three sites of the Santo Tomás mission have 0 preservation done.



That gunite thing is terrible. It just entombs the structure. What good is that? They're lost and gone forever.
A better choice would have been a photographic record that would last forever and let nature do it's thing to the structure....make it disappear just like the faithful who built it. Kinda seems poetic.

David K - 4-13-2014 at 02:37 PM

Photographs are the best way to preserve what was. Nothing is forever.

woody with a view - 4-13-2014 at 04:17 PM

i wonder what the new toll prices will be to cover the cost of repairs once it opens?

Ateo - 4-13-2014 at 04:23 PM

Probably $3.

Hey Woody,

HIJACK:

Some south swells coming our way. Let's surf down there (northern Baja) Saturday!

"Further out, an impressive fetch wrapping up in the Eastern SPAC will send up another fun-zone+ dose of SSW/S swell (195-175) starting up the 19th, peaking by the 20th, and continuing for several days thereafter. Confidence is rising that this pulse will be a notch larger than the swell for the 15th-17th. "

woody with a view - 4-13-2014 at 05:55 PM

not this time Jon. we are painting the living room and i got the baseboard and window skirts to do along with the accent wall next weekend after working all week in Yuma. work then come home and work! once it warms up a bit (or a big So Hemi shows) i'll turn you on to a spot you won't believe!

you won't even need camping gear and i can almost guarantee no one in the water......

Ateo - 4-13-2014 at 06:04 PM

Sounds like a plan Bob!!!

durrelllrobert - 4-13-2014 at 07:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by DENNIS
This is the most expressive foto of the area I've seen. It may not be opening as soon as stated:

http://geo-mexico.com/?m=20140329

6 Month progress report:
April 2014

DENNIS - 4-13-2014 at 07:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Ateo





Look at the slide areas on the hillsides around there. Lots of instability. Scary......very scary.



.