Unfortunately the current closure of West Old LaHonda isn’t about debris on the road and downed trees. The circled area shows a section where the ground has fallen away from the road, so there’s no support, asphalt just hanging in the breeze. This will not be an easy repair, and remember the last time a chunk of the road fell away, a bit further up the hill? How long was the road closed then? A year?

This is a vital artery for cyclists, who likely outnumber motorists by a very large amount on this road. It allows us to avoid a very dangerous section of 84 where, in the uphill direction, there are a number of blind corners where the hillside has come down into the area of the road where a cyclist would like to be (on the shoulder, as far away from traffic as possible).

With daily rain in the forecast for the next two weeks, it’s unlikely West Old LaHonda is going to get much attention, because there are going to be a lot of far more heavily-traveled roads in  need of repair. But we can’t let the county let it slide (unintentional pun) like they have the last several repairs. Allowing a bikes-only option, something the county has never considered reasonable in the past, is something we need to encourage.