It has been 46 years since a landslide damaged a 4.4-mile chunk of State Highway 39, a highway ordered built by President Eisenhower in 1957. But the landslide severed the mountain road’s junction with State Highway 2 and turned Highway 39 into a dead end.
After several starts and stops, Caltrans in 2022 announced it was once again considering reopening the two-lane highway that runs from the San Gabriel Valley floor through the Angeles National Forest to its closure about 27 miles north of Azusa and northwest of Crystal Lake. Caltrans held scoping meetings, listened to comments, studied the environmental effects, and on Tuesday, it will conduct its first in-person public meeting on the project.
Reopening proponents
Even if the state transportation agency decides to reopen the road to traffic for the first time since 1978, many who have a stake in experiencing a fully circulating Highway 39, with connections to ski areas and access to the quaint town of Wrightwood, are approaching this meeting with a skeptical bent.
“I am more optimistic but with a wait-and-see in the back of my mind. It has been promised before,” said Steve Castro, chief executive officer of the Azusa Chamber of Commerce. Castro has been lobbying for repairing the 4.4-mile section of Highway 39 at Islip Saddle for more than 15 years, since he stood in front of local grocery stores with petitions.
In 2009, Caltrans announced it had $32 million to fix and reopen the mountain road to traffic. But at the last minute, the project was scuttled and the money was used to rebuild a bridge on Highway 1 in Northern California. In 2011, the agency said the project could not withstand future rock slides, would cost a ton more money, and may endanger the iconic Nelson’s bighorn sheep — so it killed the project.
Azusa Mayor Robert Gonzales, who has been pushing Caltrans — and any legislator who would listen — for 17 years to get the road fixed, is measuring his words regarding the public…
Read the full article here
