ECHO SUMMIT (CBS SF) — Another massive boulder crashed onto Highway 50 at Echo Summit Wednesday morning, triggering major delays along the route into South Lake Tahoe.
Caltrans officials said the slide was reported at around 8:03 a.m., blocking both lanes for the highway. No injuries were reported.
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“Caltrans made quick work getting the eastbound lane open, moving all the debris into the westbound lane,” a post on the CHP South Lake Tahoe Facebook said. “There is one-way traffic control going on now. Be prepared for delays.”
It’s been months since the massive Caldor Fire swept over Echo Summit on its march into the Tahoe Basin, but the impact of the wall of flames still lingers on the rocky slopes nearby.
Denuded of groundcover, the slopes above Highway 50 are a bit unstable.
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A massive cabin-size boulder and tons of rocky debris slammed down on the highway in the March 3rd slide, shutting down the major weekend traffic route into South Lake Tahoe for several days.
“We lost all the vegetation above here,” Bill Netto, Caltrans Acting Maintenance Superintendent, said while crews were clearing the slide. “We have rock slides but nothing like what we had here last night or earlier almost in the same spot.”
Crews were forced to use dynamite charges to rip into the rockslide and begin the hours long process of clearing the mounds of debris from the roadway.
Now back to our not regularly scheduled programming, more footage of #BoulderWatch from our team at @CaltransHQ on the Highway 50 work at Echo Summit. Great work by our crew! Again, we hope to have the highway back open later this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/CP5THwXkIh
— Caltrans District 3 (@CaltransDist3) March 4, 2022
Getting it done! Nice job working to get our road open, Caltrans District 3!! pic.twitter.com/zNs1NiOesJ
— CHP South Lake Tahoe (@CHPSouthLake) March 4, 2022
Hours after that slide was cleared and the roadway reopened, another boulder tumbled down the slope, slamming into a Toyota Tacoma. While the vehicle suffered major damage, no injuries were reported.
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“Another large boulder came down onto US-50, same location. No injuries,” CHP South Lake Tahoe posted. “While (officers were) on scene, ANOTHER huge boulder came down without incident. Be vigilant when traveling through the burn areas. Very unstable hillsides.”
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.