California county abandons repair plans for crumbling coastal road ahead of El Niño-fueled winter – Los Angeles Times

California county abandons repair plans for crumbling coastal road ahead of El Niño-fueled winter  Los Angeles Times

Humboldt County officials have long debated what to do about Centerville Road, a narrow, twisting byway that leads to an eroding rural beach and a handful of homes. The rising, warming sea and ferocious winter storms have battered the road. Often, it is completely covered by sand and saltwater. Nearly two years ago, the Humboldt County Department of Public Works pitched a solution to the California Coastal Commission: Local officials wanted to elevate a 0.17-mile segment of Centerville Road by 10 feet and build a revetment, a sloping layer of rocks on the sand meant to protect it from the pounding surf, at least for a few years. In September, the Coastal Commission gave the county permission to raise and repair the road a few miles west of the town of Ferndale, with conditions.

Construction was expected to start early next year. But this week, with a "super" El Niño on the horizon, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to surrender to the elements and abandon its long-sought $3.8-million project because the cliffs and bluffs over which Centerville Road runs are crumbling so fast that portions of the road could soon slide into the Pacific. "That place is just mind-boggling, the unraveling of those slopes," Supervisor Steve Madrone said at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, adding: "It's