Posted on 09/03/2025 4:07:02 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
DEL NORTE COUNTY, Calif. — In March 1972, Kurt Stremberg’s parents gave him a predawn ride from their house in northwest California to his friend’s home in the tiny town of Klamath, about 20 miles south of Crescent City on Highway 101.
Stremberg, then 24, and his buddy were going to hitch a ride on a log truck bound for San Francisco, catch a flight to Europe, and see the world.
His parents, Edwin and Aili Stremberg, said a quick goodbye, then started driving home. It was still dark. And raining hard.
In the few minutes it had taken to drop their son off, a landslide-plagued portion of the highway — ominously named Last Chance Grade — had crumbled. The Strembergs’ Ford sedan went over the cliff, killing them both.
For decades, residents of California’s remote northwest corner have been pleading with government officials to do something about Last Chance Grade, an eroding, three-mile stretch of highway hugging the fog-shrouded cliffs between the redwood forest and the Pacific Ocean.
It is a critical thoroughfare — the only viable route linking Crescent City, a tsunami-prone town of 6,200 people, with neighboring Humboldt County and the rest of the state.
But 53 years after the Strembergs’ death, the two-lane road is still perilous. Perched atop four active landslides, its pavement warped and cracked by constant land movement, Last Chance Grade is so unstable that it was reduced to one-way traffic for nine years straight, reopening in...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
But the state has $130+ BILLION for a train to nowhere...
Sure is a beautiful area. I just camped near Ft Bragg this summer. On the cliff, overlooking the pacific, in the redwood trees.
The Pacific wind was strong and cold, even in July. Was like sitting in front of a box fan on high in a walk in reefer.
Gotta have your priorities straight.
Much harder for politicians to cash in on an actual road than needs repair...
Natural erosion is like natural climate changes. I lived in the area in the early 1950’s. Had washouts and slides then too.
Indeed beautiful area...did you go on the Skunk Train? We were there many years ago after visiting friends in Red Bluff or Redding - that’s how many years ago it was - forgot where! Went home to OC through San Jose and stopped to tour the Winchester House...Coast Highway back - not a ride I enjoyed. My husband told me to look over the side and I told him to drive and never mind the tour!!!!! Wrecked cars below on the rocks...Did NOT LIKE that highway!
They could go up and over or get some huge miner earth movers and really create retaining barriers and scale it. It would cost a bundle but it’s workable.
Problem is that grade is a constant slide which means you’d have to start at the top and work down not keep cleaning the slide from the bottom like they’ve been doing since they built that road.
Maybe a billion dollars.
When my kids were in grade school, we spent a year in Big Sur. Rented a fab big house surrounded by Redwoods on top of Partington Ridge , . The kids walked down to the school bus on Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, then I picked them up after school.
After storms everyone lauged about how much of the highway fell into the ocean that day and also called their friends to warn them.
So locals manage these things very well, but God help visitors.
Propagandists blame “climate change” for their own stupidity in the very first sentence.
The Californistan Commies gots to spend money on reparations and Medicaid for illegals.
STFU and pay your taxes, little people.
No, just natural erosion. The extreme slope is a dead giveaway.
Is that a box truck in the lower right of the picture?
Correction! In the vicinity of the mid portion around Carmel and south.
If you live by the sea and you build on rock... You’ll be fine... If you build on sand... It will eventually disappear.
hard to tell - here’s a link to a larger image...
Tons of very perilous roads in CA; remember much of the state is geologically active and/ or subject to extreme weather conditions. Famously Devils Slide just south of San Francisco was extremely unstable and frequently closed for decades. I think they finally have it stabilized
This road is in an area that could pick up ten feet of rain in a year without breaking a sweat. As the article says, the ground under it is unstable. And STILL they throw climate change in. It’s like Tourette’s Syndrome with these people
Yes, hard to tell. Looks too regular to be a natural formation.
Spent the night in Crescent City several years ago. Got some beautiful shots of the Battery Point Lighthouse at twilight as the beacon lit up.
I would stay there again in a heartbeat.
The coastal drive of Cali is the most beautiful drive in North America.
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