Still Another Carbon Canyon Road Closure

UPDATE, 4:20 P.M.  Traffic appears to be moving smoothly through the area and it appears the semi-truck blockage of Carbon Canyon Road has been rectified.

We are on a roll . . .

Coming in from the Chino Hills side a half hour or so ago, it was observed that a Sheriff's Department vehicle at Summit Ranch was allowing local traffic through but turning away others because a semi was stuck on the S-curve a little further ahead.

Navigating through Carriage Hills and exiting to Carbon Canyon Road, it was noted that there is a long line of cars to and now beyond Sleepy Hollow.

And, it's only gonna get better until they clear the semi.

An e-mail notification from the City of Chino Hills arrived at 1:40 p.m., nearing two hours ago, about the fact that the semi "did not navigate the switchbacks correctly," whatever "correctly" is deemed to be according to local officialdom.   A 2:00 p.m. notification chose not to use the term "correctly" and merely observed that the semi got stuck.

The notifications also suggested alternate routes--which heading eastbound are the 91 Freeway, the 57/60 and Grand Avenue, all of which are probably now loaded up with the usual array of commuters.

A growing line of eastbound travelers waits for the towing of a semi truck that, according to a City of Chino Hills e-mail alert, "did not navigate the switchbacks correctly" on Carbon Canyon Road earlier this afternoon.

Which leads to an old complaint on this blog--why are big rigs of a certain size of larger allowed on Carbon Canyon Road in the first place?  This blogger has witnessed a few examples of semis and larger trucks that had difficulty in the S-curve and only made it through because cars heading the other direction, usually westbound, had to stop to give these vehicles the ability to maneuver through both lanes of traffic to navigate the curve.

In one instance, it was observed that a semi came inches to shearing off the side of a school bus.

If the answer is:  because it is a state highway and there is an obligation to accommodate any vehicle that can (or believes it can) make it through the S-curve, then another question arises, which has been asked here before, as well, which is:  why is Carbon Canyon Road still a state highway?

If, theoretically of course, Carbon Canyon was a local roadway, like Lambert Road (its western continuation) in Brea, then it could be established, as on Lambert, that vehicles bigger than 30' in length or weighing more than 5 tons, or whatever it is, are banned.

This, obviously, won't happen.  The cities of Brea and Chino Hills almost certainly do not want to take further responsibility for a roadway that they are supposed (operative word) to patrol, but would also have to maintain.

The state may not want to give up control of the highway because it sees it as a regional linkage of importance between the inland and coastal areas.

But, the recent spate of closures caused by accidents and this blockage and further reminders, if they were needed, of the problem of a sheer lack of oversight.

Meantime, let's add hundreds more houses as proposed with Madrona (of which the next hearing is next week the 18th) and the 100+ that will be applied for on the Chino Hills side across from Circle K--just to make matters more interesting.