The old highway's new start

An iconic span is rising slowly above the south fork of the Eel River, bringing with it a mix of hope and trepidation fitting a hill named Confusion.

Work crews are halfway through a $69 million, three-year realignment of Highway 101, which includes two new bridges and a 1.5-mile stretch of roadway diverting the highway from the slide-prone Confusion Hill in northern Mendocino County.

Some view the project as a promise of new beginnings, a chance to bring visitors to a region brought to near economic standstill each winter when falling boulders and mudslides close the highway.

But for others, it's the end of an era.

"As far as I'm concerned, the later it's done the better," said Doug Campbell, 57, owner of a tourist stop in Piercy named Campbell Bros. World Famous Confusion Hill. "We like things the way they are."

That's because once the project is complete, Highway 101 no longer will run directly along Campbell's tourist stop, at 75001 N. Highway 101.

That will be a huge loss, he said, considering 85 percent of the visitors in his guestbook happen upon his stop while on the highway. There, he and his wife, Carol, offer a gift shop, train rides up the hilltop and visits to a gravity house where water appears to flow uphill.

Campbell said he understands the need for the project: High maintenance costs and traffic delays from slides and road closures in the past decade have cost taxpayers more than $33 million. And highway closures cut off access to southern cities for residents in Humboldt and Del Norte counties.

But Campbell worries about the financial impact once people have to exit the highway in pursuit of his attraction. Signs alerting drivers to his business haven't been promised, he said.

"When you lose your highway frontage, you lose your business," he said.

Mendocino County Supervisor Kendall Smith said county officials are discussing the area's potential for "nature tourism," even recently setting up a coalition to examine funding resources and project ideas.

A visitor designation along the soon-to-be decommissioned stretch of old highway could include an overlook of the Eel River, a picnic area and visitor kiosks or a center where people could learn about the region's tribal history and environmental issues affecting Eel River's health, she said.

"It's a fantastic opportunity for economic development at the northern end of Mendocino County," Smith said, referring to the highway realignment.

Such a visitors project also would "anchor" Campbell's business, she said, which will be seeing its traffic flow rerouted to the entrance of the nearby Redwood River Resort & Campground.

The resort is the only other business in the area. Its owner, Jack Harrison, said the highway realignment is an asset because "we don't have to worry about the highway going down every winter and being cut off from civilization."

When the highway is closed, travelers from the two counties have to make a 450-mile detour to reach the Bay Area. Caltrans engineers have predicted a catastrophic landslide essentially could close the highway in either direction for up to a year.

"We have no business when the highway shuts down, and all the advisories go out saying to use Highway 5," Harrison said. "The whole community all up and down the coast is greatly affected; it's a ripple effect."

Caltrans has spent millions to stabilize the highway and although those efforts and the lighter rains of recent winters have lessened closures, "our geologists don't see any sign of the slides stopping," said Phil Frisbie Jr., a Caltrans spokesman. "They'll only get worse."

The project has had its challenges, requiring demolition of bedrock and a limited construction schedule that is environmentally friendly, said Arvin Lal, the assistant resident engineer.

But so far the project is on track, and the bridges and connecting roadway are expected to open to traffic in October 2009, Frisbie said.

"We're just going to have to hope for one more winter on the old highway," he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Shadi Rahimi at 5215280 or shadi.rahimi@pressdemocrat.

com.