Thursday, April 20, 2006 Last modified: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 5:28 PM PDT

By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer

Costs for Foresthill Road's partial cave-in are rising, with the latest estimate at $1.7 million.

Placer County supervisors were appraised Tuesday of damage to a section of the main Auburn-to-Foresthill transportation artery that has worsened during the last two weeks as torrential spring rains continued to pound the area.

Public Works Director Ken Grehm said well over $100,000 had been spent since a portion of the road at Driver's Flat Road began drifting downward April 4. The Driver's Flat section of the road, located about seven miles northeast of Auburn, continued to erode as more storms rolled through last weekend.

The crumbling asphalt on the southerly slope forced traffic to be re-routed onto two lanes of the three-lane section. A further lane has been graded and paved on the northern side of the road in case more rain causes continued road failure.

Grehm reiterated comments made last week that a full-fledged repair is a long way off. Early predictions are it could be months before the road is back to three lanes.

"It's way too wet to perform a permanent fix," Grehm said. "We'll let it dry out, ascertain the problem, and do a permanent fix we hope will be a permanent fix."

Foresthill's other, less-traveled way out -- the rough Yankee Jim's Road between Foresthill and Iowa Hill -- is also currently closed because of a slide across the road. The road is not suitable for all vehicles.

Supervisor Bruce Kranz, who represents the Foresthill area, said he was anxious to keep traffic flowing along Foresthill Road.

"It's the only way out of Foresthill," Kranz said. "You have to spend whatever it takes to keep it open and operational."

Rui Cunha, Office of Emergency Services program manager, said the latest estimate is that work to bring Foresthill Road back is $1.7 million. He added that while total failure of the road at Driver's Flat is not expected, the county has taken some steps to put in a contingency plan.

Supervisors voted Tuesday in favor of ratifying an emergency declaration that could assist the county in securing state and federal funding for road repairs.

Cunha said that a more reasonable possibility would be that funding could stream from the road's status as a national forest highway. The road leads to the Tahoe National Forest and nearly $10 million in funding was secured in the early 1990s with the aid of U.S. Rep. John Doolittle, R-Roseville, to widen and straighten it.

Cunha also provided supervisors with rain totals from Foresthill to illustrate the amount of precipitation the area has been dealing with this winter and spring. More than 88 inches had fallen by the end of the weekend in Foresthill, approaching the record of nearly 93 inches, he said.

Slides have also occurred on Rollins Lake Road, Ophir Road and Mosquito Ridge Road.

"The work by crews to keep the roads open has been absolutely phenomenal," Cunha said.


The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com.