A scenic section of Pacific Coast Highway in Ventura County reopened Friday afternoon after a three-month closure prompted by a rock slide below a denuded wildfire burn area.
The complete 9-mile section from Yerba Buena Road to Las Posas Road was flowing freely again by 2:15 p.m. Friday, Caltrans District 7 announced. Six miles of that stretch had already reopened Feb. 3, but the area that connects Ventura and Los Angeles counties remained closed.
PCH was first shut down Nov. 30 after a heavy storm prompted rock slides and mudflows in the area of the 38-square-mile Springs Fire, which burned in May 2013.
The roadway reopened and was then shut down again.
There were 40,000 cubic yards of mud and debris on PCH as a result of the storm, Mark Archuleta of Caltrans District 7 said.
The long closure was needed to ensure safe repairs, some of which were done by workers on rock-climbing ropes.
Commuters that use PCH faced a long detour, and Archuleta thanked them for their patience.
“We worked as fast as we could,” Caltrans spokesman Patrick Chandler told the Los Angeles Times.