Good morning. Tina here, with a late Thanksgiving thank you.
We who live on the Georgetown Divide in El Dorado County take Highway 193 to Placerville. It is a curvy road, and during storms rocks and boulders rain down upon it often.
Late September this year Cal-Trans decided to fix a stretch which was about to slip away into the Chili Bar canyon.
Traffic lights were set up for one-way traffic.
A cement barrier keeps us from the workers who have built a large retaining wall, high above the river,
Work goes on as the cars inch by.
In late September just as they finished the poles for the electricity to run the stop lights, we had a wildfire caused by a driver in a truck going too fast through the one lane area.
The fire burned uphill from the highway, destroyed some of the poles, and stopped work, causing the highway to be closed for almost a week.
This is approaching the stop light on the way towards Georgetown.
Stopping just past a blind corner, in spite of all the signs warning us, there have been rear-enders from drivers coming around the corner too fast. Luckily no injuries.
Above behind the yellow barrels the workers sit on their break, eating their lunch-time sandwiches.
Somewhere beyond the highway returns to normal.
Large equipment operates on a very narrow portion of the road.
As the opposing traffic comes through, you count the cars, and then wait for the green light.
Above is approaching the light as you drive to Placerville.
Sun in our faces, we can view the hillside which burned in September.
When it is time to go, you wonder if there was someone who ran the red light.
There is not much room if you meet someone coming the wrong way.
Once this is over I will never think of this stretch as narrow again!
You can always look up instead of down.
Can you tell there is not much to do while waiting to continue on?
Luckily it is a beautiful area.
An interesting design formed in the pavement below the traffic lights.
Waiting behind another car to continue on to Placerville. Some people light up a cigarette.
You see your neighbors go by on their way home.
Wow, this was a long wait this time.
This hillside has burned twice in the almost fourteen years we've been driving this highway.
Our turn.
Not long now before the work will be done.
It will feel almost strange not to have this little community on the side of the hill.
Five to ten minutes less of a commute.
And a highway that just might stay where it is supposed to be, instead of slipping down into the river canyon.
2 comments:
Road construction is SO frustrating! But, saving time on your commute, eventually, will indeed be a good trade-off for the inconvenience, I suppose.
Or, it could be like when Mosquito was closed for months when the hillside gave way just above the bridge, we have to be thankful for DOT workers, even in this weather!!!!
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