Road closures on Highway 9 and Graham Hill Road create problems for local residents. With two of the three main routes out of the San Lorenzo Valley, residents are concerned about safety if a fire or other emergencies occurred that could happen during peak commute hours.
Bob Anderson of Ben Lomond said “two roads closed is a recipe for a disaster. It causes gridlock during commute times. There are too many people on too few roads and that puts people in jeopardy and that is bad planning.”
In a time of extended drought, people from several communities are concerned about fire hazards, limited water supplies to extinguish fires, and being cut off from normal evacuation routes. About the potential of a fire in remote communities, Anderson said “with a limited water supply things could go in two minutes.”
With closures of both Highway 9 and Graham Hill Road, travel is impacted with delays. Susan Zimmerman from Ben Lomond said “at the very least there will be major inconveniences and at worst it could be life threatening if a fire evacuation or medical emergency occurred. One would think that the agencies involved could have better coordination with only three main roads out of the valley. Hopefully Caltrans will do everything possible to get Highway 9 open soon.”
Asked about emergency preparedness of local fire workers, Cal Fire Deputy Chief, Ian Larkin, explained that fire fighting procedures depend on the situation. He described both potential fire circumstances and an actual event to show the range of processes in place that can be used by fire fighters.
In the event a severe fire breaks out while two roads out of the community are closed, he said that “early evacuation orders could be issued and residents that live in restricted areas could receive reverse 911 calls to inform them of the situation if they are outside of the impacted area.”
Deputy Chief Larkin described a different type of incident and how the methodology used to contain the fire that occurred June 18, at Harmon Gulch Road, Boulder Creek. He said “it had a potential of burning as much as 20 acres. The fire fighters contained the fire after one and a half acres were burned. No structures were burned and there were no injuries,” he said.
Describing the fire fighter’s ability to quickly contain the fire, Larkin said that “Cal Fire and the Boulder Creek Fire Department worked together. An air tanker and helicopter were deployed and they also used inmate crews to dig a fire line around the perimeter of the fire.”
Caltrans District 5 reports that construction crews continue upgrading Highway 9 and the ending date of the construction project is scheduled to end by September 25. They predict that a “10 to 15 minute delay is anticipated for additional travel time due to the detour.” The Caltrans report dated June 22, says that the contractor for the two million dollar project is Graniterock Construction Company of San Jose.
Richard Roy, resident of Forest Lakes off of Highway 9 said “between 300 and 500 people from that community will continue to be severely inconvenienced by the continuation of the construction project. The Caltrans website said the project was going to be completed by July 2.”
He said he had heard that Caltrans had extended the finish date, but their website still had the July 2 date listed as the finish date. Graham Hill Road was listed as an alternate route. “Now, the traffic on Graham Hill Road is jammed,” said Roy.
The construction project that has impacted traffic flow on Graham Hill Road is for the installation of Intertie Systems 2, 3 and 4, being installed by San Lorenzo Valley Water District.
The SLV General Manager, Brian Lee said about the current traffic congestion in the valley, “SLV Water District shares the concerns of Valley residents regarding traffic delays from construction, especially given the limited number of usable traffic corridors in the Valley.”
“When the District first became aware of Caltrans closure of Highway 9 south of Felton, we immediately contacted Supervisor McPherson’s Office to determine how to reduce impacts from our long-planned pipeline installation project on Graham Hill Road,” said Lee.
Lee said “Supervisor McPherson has been very helpful and coordinated a multiagency meeting, which resulted in the district delaying the start of the project. In order to avoid cost increases that would come from further delays, we needed to start the project and are endeavoring to complete it as quickly as possible.”
The SLVWD construction project on Graham Hill Road is projected to be completed by December 20, 2015. Additional information regarding the project can be obtained from the San Lorenzo Valley Water District at 831-338-2153.
