John Jacobs
Jun 7, 2019, 1:26:17 PMto Pine Crest Watch
Helicopters in Idyllwild
June 7, 2019 from Mountain Disaster Preparedness
MESSAGE FROM SCE:
You may have noticed or will notice additional SCE crews doing inspections, infrastructure improvement work and vegetation management in your community the past few months. In addition to this work, SCE will be conducting aerial inspections of its electrical equipment in your community over the next few weeks. The aerial inspections of SCE’s distribution facilities will involve the use of helicopter and/or drones and will only take place during daylight hours. We are doing this in all high fire risk areas—approximately 35 percent of our service area. We understand our activities may be disruptive when we do this important safety work and will do everything we can to minimize the impact to you and your community. We appreciate your support and cooperation, as this is part of our ongoing commitment to safety and supporting California’s fight against wildfires. For additional information about how SCE is addressing the threat of wildfires, please visit sce.com/wildfire.
COMMUNITY MEETING JUNE 13 ABOUT ROADS
Mountain Disaster Preparedness will host a second Community Meeting to provide an update on the emergency project for SR-74 and SR-243. The meeting will be held on Thursday, June 13th at the Idyllwild School Gym from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Caltrans staff, Ames Construction, CHP, and Supervisor Chuck Washington will present information on the status of repairs and escort process and answer questions from the community.
[NOTE: Hwy. 74 from Hemet is open with escorts from 5 to 8 a.m. every morning and from 6 p.m. until midnight. The alternative access to town is via Hwy. 371 through Anza and on the 74 from Palm Desert.]
STATUS OF HWY 243 FROM BANNING
The following article about access was printed in the May 29 Press-Enterprise :
May storms again pummel Idyllwild roads, postponing reopening of Highways 74, 243
Press Enterprise David Downey May 29, 2019 at 8:03 am
Highway 243,the Esperanza Firefighters Memorial Highway, is closed at the base of the San Jacinto Mountains because of new storm damage, on top of the washouts that occurred during winter. Caltrans officials say the damage is so extensive they have no idea when motorists will be able to reach the mountain resort town of Idyllwild via the 243 again.
Battered sections of Highways 74 and 243 that lead to a Riverside County mountain resort took another hit from unusually strong storms last week. Now officials say it will be well into summer before one road reopens fully — and they still don’t know when the other highway might open.
Caltrans estimates it will be two more months — late July — before Highway 74 opens around the clock between Hemet and Idyllwild — with pilot vehicles escorting motorists through work zones.
As for Highway 243 between the 10 Freeway and Idyllwild, Caltrans officials say they have no idea when it will reopen because the damage is so extensive. “The weather has just not been our friend,” Caltrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said.
The highways that connect to Idyllwild from the north and west were knocked out initially by a massive Valentine’s Day storm that dumped 8 inches of rain. Multiple sections collapsed. Boulders spilled onto the pavement. Drain pipes under the roads failed. Sinkholes opened up.
Then, with still more storms pounding the mountains last week, Kasinga said, swollen rainwater has undermined road sections that were repaired or nearly fixed and exposed new trouble spots. “And more keep popping up,” she said.
The fresh damage is frustrating for Caltrans officials and construction workers. “We’re taking like 10 steps forward and five steps back,” Kasinga said. It’s also frustrating for Idyllwild merchants. They depend on the tourist dollar for their livelihoods. And the few routes still available are long and circuitous. Because of that, Idyllwild School Principal Matt Kraemer said he has dubbed the town “Idyllwild Island.”
One can still get to Idyllwild if they pack patience. Highway 74 is open from the east, through Palm Desert. Visitors also can head east from Temecula on Highway 79 South, then northeast on Highway 371 through Anza.
From the west, Highway 74 opens sparingly — 5 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning and 6 p.m. to midnight in the evening. But the going is slow. Motorists must be escorted by pilot vehicles one direction at a time.
Bryan Tallent, who co-owns Coyote Red’s Country Gourmet, a store that specializes in jerky, jam, barbecue sauces and hot sauce, said he wasn’t surprised to hear it’s going to take longer to fix the primary routes. “We’ve had snow two times in the last week and constant rain,” Tallent said. “So we figured that, if nothing else, it had to be slowing them (the construction workers) down.” Tallent said his store’s sales are down 50 percent since February. “We’ve lost thousands of dollars already,” he said. Tallent said he had been hoping for a rebound over the summer. Now, he said, Idyllwild may not bounce back until the Thanksgiving-Christmas shopping season. Businesses are operating on reduced hours. Restaurants are closed midweek, Tallent said. “The weekdays are just like a ghost town up here,” he said.
While talking on the phone Tuesday, May 28, a customer asked Tallent about the absence of a favored sea-salt seasoning product on Coyote Red’s shelves. “Oh, the sea salt,” he said. “Unfortunately we won’t have that for a while. But we will have it again. It will probably be further into the summer before we do.”
Large sections of shelves are empty, he said, because the reduced cash flow has forced owners to put off placing orders for new inventory. But there is reason to be positive, some say.
Kraemer, the school principal, said the vehicle escorts on Highway 74 have brought some relief to teachers who live in Hemet and teach in Idyllwild, and for Idyllwild teens who are bused to Hemet High School. Kraemer said he just hopes the 74 will be fully open by Aug. 12, the first day of the next school year.
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John Jacobs
Pine Crest – Riverside County Playground Rd. Neighborhood Watch
888.522.9001
Idyllwild, California 92549