Highway 1 to reopen May 6th
According to the Marin Independent Journal, the damaged section of Highway 1 is scheduled to reopen May 6th for access to Muir Beach. Click here to read article from Marin IJ
MUIR BEACH
Damaged section of Highway 1 set to be reopened
By Mark Prado
mprado@marinij.com @MarkPradoIJ on Twitter
The beleaguered residents of Muir Beach will finally get some relief with the reopening of Highway 1 early next month.
This winter’s storms made Highway 1 inaccessible in and out of Muir Beach, where the road literally slipped off and down the side of a hill. Now there is a date for the section to open.
“Highway 1 between the Panoramic Highway split and Green Gulch is scheduled to open on May 6,” said Steve Williams, a Caltrans spokesman.
And that’s not a moment too soon for those who live in Muir Beach as throngs of people will begin starting show up in the area along with the good weather.
Panoramic Highway to Frank Valley/Lower Muir Woods Road is the only way to access Muir Beach, and that is causing problems as local and Muir Woods motorists mix, slowing traffic.
Making matters worse is the condition of Frank Valley Road, which itself is compromised because of previous slides. Parts of it have been reduced to one lane for more than a decade.
“It’s really getting crazy with people parking along the road as they try to get to Muir Woods,” said Vanessa Workman, interim codistrict manager for the Muir Beach Community Services
District. “A nd it will only get worse as the weather warms up.”
Locals are familiar with closures of the highway, seeing major shutdowns in 2005, 2006, 2014 and again this year.
San Rafael-based Maggiora & Ghilotti Inc. got the contract to rebuild the highway in Muir Beach. The repairs required the construction of a retaining wall that is supported by 50-foot-long steel piles. A series of shafts are drilled into the ground along the length of the wall.
The steel beams are then placed into the shafts and backfilled with concrete.
Timber lagging is installed between the steel beams to create the wall, which is then backfilled with soil or aggregate. The final step is repaving the road. In all, 69 piles are being placed to support the roadway at two locations.
Another section of Highway 1 to the north, between Muir Beach and Stinson Beach, where the highway has dipped and cracked, will not reopen until Oct. 1, according to a Caltrans website.
Caltrans officials say there are 17 storm-related work sites in Marin, most of those on Highway 1. Work to date has cost an estimated $13 million, according to the agency.
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