Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Help for Highway 101

Approval for emergency repairs took six years — soon they begin

In December 2009 and January 2010, winter storms tore at the underpinnings of Highway 101 at the south end of Encinitas, causing erosion that threatened to compromise the highway. The city's Public Works department subsequently set out to do an emergency repair.

On Wednesday (February 10), after getting approvals from four state and federal agencies, the city council gave its final approval and funded the $735,000 repair.

"We had to get approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, the California Coastal Commission, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board," said city associate engineer Kipp Hefner. "We've been lucky that we've had dry winters since then."

Sponsored
Sponsored

After the storms, city staff did stop-gap emergency repairs to keep the damaged road — from in the lows to the slopes where before the 101 rises up into Solana Beach — from collapsing. But the repair work disturbed sensitive habitat, and finishing the repair meant habitat restoration. The plans were relatively easy. The approvals were a whole different story.

City engineers engaged Dudek in 2011 to draft plans for the vegetation replacement and restoration. The engineering department, meanwhile, put together plans for storm drainage on the hillsides to make them more stable.

In October 2013, the Regional Water Quality Control Board finished its review and certified the project. It then went to the California Coastal Commission for review. The commission issued a permit on Jan. 10, 2014.

From there, it went to the Army Corps of Engineers, where it sat until the end of June 2015, before it was okayed for construction.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the plan and decided that the project didn't need a “streambed alteration” permit.

Caltrans also got in, requesting that the city set up five years of environmental monitoring after the “emergency” project is completed. (Unlike the other agencies, Caltrans will pay for what it asked for, just over $30,000 of the $35,000 total cost.)

By then, the coming El Niño winter was on the minds of city engineers. The heart of the project is replacing failed storm drains and infrastructure that will prevent erosion, according to city documents. Four companies turned in bids of between $578,00 and $1.2 million for the work.

On February 10, six years after the last storm damage, the city council unanimously approved the repair and funded it. Council members didn't make any comment and didn't return requests for comment afterward.

"We're just glad it hasn't rained as much as has been predicted," Hefner said. "That would have been an emergency for all of us."

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village

In December 2009 and January 2010, winter storms tore at the underpinnings of Highway 101 at the south end of Encinitas, causing erosion that threatened to compromise the highway. The city's Public Works department subsequently set out to do an emergency repair.

On Wednesday (February 10), after getting approvals from four state and federal agencies, the city council gave its final approval and funded the $735,000 repair.

"We had to get approval from the Army Corps of Engineers, the California Coastal Commission, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and the Regional Water Quality Control Board," said city associate engineer Kipp Hefner. "We've been lucky that we've had dry winters since then."

Sponsored
Sponsored

After the storms, city staff did stop-gap emergency repairs to keep the damaged road — from in the lows to the slopes where before the 101 rises up into Solana Beach — from collapsing. But the repair work disturbed sensitive habitat, and finishing the repair meant habitat restoration. The plans were relatively easy. The approvals were a whole different story.

City engineers engaged Dudek in 2011 to draft plans for the vegetation replacement and restoration. The engineering department, meanwhile, put together plans for storm drainage on the hillsides to make them more stable.

In October 2013, the Regional Water Quality Control Board finished its review and certified the project. It then went to the California Coastal Commission for review. The commission issued a permit on Jan. 10, 2014.

From there, it went to the Army Corps of Engineers, where it sat until the end of June 2015, before it was okayed for construction.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reviewed the plan and decided that the project didn't need a “streambed alteration” permit.

Caltrans also got in, requesting that the city set up five years of environmental monitoring after the “emergency” project is completed. (Unlike the other agencies, Caltrans will pay for what it asked for, just over $30,000 of the $35,000 total cost.)

By then, the coming El Niño winter was on the minds of city engineers. The heart of the project is replacing failed storm drains and infrastructure that will prevent erosion, according to city documents. Four companies turned in bids of between $578,00 and $1.2 million for the work.

On February 10, six years after the last storm damage, the city council unanimously approved the repair and funded it. Council members didn't make any comment and didn't return requests for comment afterward.

"We're just glad it hasn't rained as much as has been predicted," Hefner said. "That would have been an emergency for all of us."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Hockey Dad brings UCSD vets and Australians to the Quartyard

Bending the stage barriers in East Village
Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader