The good news is the San Marcos Pass will open again. The bad news is that it will be slow going.
Caltrans announced on July 2 that State Route 154 will reopen at a yet-to-be-determined hour on the Fourth of July. Only one lane will be open — the one farthest from the potential landslide below the road — and ongoing work and traffic signals will control the pace at which cars will go through. The signals will be between San Antonio Creek Road and Painted Cave Road.
The 154 has been closed since June 22 when major cracks developed across the entirety of the road while Caltrans was repairing a slip-out, or landslide, beneath the road. The agency and two contractors have been stabilizing the earth beneath the roadway 24 hours a day since then. The 40-foot-long vertical dowels have stopped surface movement, Caltrans reports, and the next phase is to place horizontal dowels below the roadway.
The delay at the single lane will depend on how many travelers choose the pass instead of Highway 101, Caltrans stated in a press release. The time to reopen the entire road remains unknown.
