On the Skids and Off the Grid: Last Week's Carbon Canyon Road Blowout

Last Saturday the 11th, a single-vehicle accident at Carbon Canyon Road and Carriage Hills Lane near the summit in Chino Hills involved the toppling of a power pole, and live wires fell on the state highway.  The driver and passenger in the car were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not described in terms of seriousness. While an investigation determined that alcohol was not a factor, nothing was said about speeding, though it is possible that there was some other cause.

What followed was the temporary loss of power and longer-term disruption of cable and internet access in parts of the Canyon.  Electricity was restored, at least in Sleepy Hollow, within about five hours and internet and cable late on Sunday, though there were problems for other Canyon residents lasting much longer.

Work by Southern California Edison crews replacing the power pole that was toppled by a car early on Saturday morning the 11th.  This was taken that afternoon.

As reported by Marianne Napoles in yesterday's edition of the Champion, however, there was a second incident later on Saturday morning when a trash truck driver pulled over on the shoulder at the summit to let vehicles pass and came into contact with a portion of cable that was low on the run on lines in that area. 

Whether this was related to the previous accident is not known, though a Frontier Communication representative stated that the tall trash truck pulled down the cable line, even though these trucks frequently pull over there and have since Republic Disposal was hired some years ago.  In any case, the second incident led to cable and internet service being out until early Tuesday morning.

Another view of work done on the 11th.

The Champion article quoted a longtime Carriage Hills resident who often comments on Canyon-related concerns involving the state highway and development projects, as well as a Sleepy Hollow resident and Carbon Canyon Fire Safe Council member.  The former said the accidents last weekend were the worst he'd experienced in over 20 years living in the Canyon, while the latter observed that accidents in Sleepy Hollow have involved outages like this recent example and asked for drivers to go more slowly through the canyon.

A lieutenant with the Chino Hills Sheriff's Department station told Napoles that there were 60 traffic collisions on the Chino Hills portion of Carbon Canyon Road in 2019, a 20% increase from the prior year and said "the number is an estimate only."  There are, of course, differences between reported and unreported incidents.  What also wasn't stated was the severity of the damage caused, both in terms of personal injury or death or property damage.

Debris left behind on the 13th and before more work was done.

The lengthy project, still not quite finished, by CalTrans to rehabilitate Carbon Canyon Road has included additional safety features involving more guardrails, replacement of older ones, grooved striping, more signs and others.  These are certainly welcomed and needed, but, despite this work, accidents are clearly increasing in number and some, like last weekends, are severe.

Discussions about the state highway prior to work starting mentioned that the California Highway Patrol would be providing more patrols in the Canyon, but, when asked about the commonly known issue of the CHP not having enough officers to keep up with the growth in traffic, the response from a city official was "that's a good question."

Also from the 13th.

The truth is that all of the physical improvements in the world can be added, but, if accidents, even on estimates, are increasing, those additions are not mitigating the problem.   There has to be more of a physical presence, but it is also understood that staffing and funding are issues to be addressed.  As the Sleepy Hollow resident quoted in the Champion article expressed it, "the situation makes residents feel helpless."

As CalTrans is expected to decide soon about a request from the cities of Chino Hills and Brea to ban large truck (over 50 feet in length) on the state highway, it is clear that, if this is approved, signs won't be enough of a deterrence and a law enforcement patrols will be needed (some truckers and their employers still will find a fine worth the time saved.) 

This is another recent incident, which took place before the ones shown above.  This is at the middle of the S-curve east of the previous scene and is where a westbound vehicle went off the road and chewed up a good part of the embankment.  As can be seen, there are signs indicating a change in direction of the roadway as well as white reflector signs added in the nearly completed rehabilitation of the state highway.

This goes, however, for broader driving issues, though, because large trucks aren't causing the majority of accidents—that's happening with passenger vehicles of various types.  Otherwise, the kind of incidents embodied with last weekend's accident will continue.