Topanga Canyon Boulevard—State Route 27—has been closed for more than five weeks due to a massive landslide.
The latest estimate by Caltrans is that the landslide will be cleared by fall of this year - if things go well, that is.
Caltrans District 7 spokesperson Jim Medina tells KNX News' Margaret Carrero, "Water continues to seep out from underneath the dirt, mud, and rocks, indicating the mass may move at a given moment, and there's forecast for more rain next week."
He says to give a rough estimate of the landslide—the visible face of it is about 80,000 cubic yards and 9.2 million pounds.
Medina says the slide is still considered active, and the material will have to be removed from the top down - "Removing the toe of the slope at the road will bring down the unstable earth in large boulders."
He also says a boulder about 10 feet high is visible from the south side of the slide, which is raising safety concerns.
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Lifelong Topanga resident Heather Ijams worries about the fire danger if Topanga Canyon Boulevard remains closed as long as what's being estimated.
"I don't know if it's going to be open by September, but that's when the Santa Ana kicks in," she said. And without that main evacuation route to the coast, Ijams said, "We've got some really big things to worry about because the only other route to the coast is up Fernwood Pacific and down Tuna Canyon - and that is disastrous during an evacuation."
The closure has also meant a traffic nightmare for parents trying to get their kids to school, with locals reporting commute times up to two hours each way.
While they understand the situation's complexity, Ijams says residents want to see some urgency from officials.
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