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Construction Begins To Protect A Critical Coastal Rail Corridor In San Clemente
Crews have begun building a temporary wall to protect the San Clemente coastal rail corridor from landslides and debris.
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The Orange County Transportation Authority
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Topline:
Construction began this week on a temporary wall that’s designed to catch sliding soil and debris from a San Clemente hillside near Mariposa Point. The major coastal rail corridor has been routinely hit with hillside problems.
Upgrades for the stretch will be similar to the one built last year below the Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens, which is less than a half mile away.
Why it matters: The San Clemente Pedestrian Beach Trail is closed from the North Beach parking lot to the trail’s bridge while construction continues. The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) expects it to be completed by mid-March, with crews working 12 hours a day.
Why now: They’ve started drilling 30 feet below ground to place the steel beams encased in concrete, which will work as the foundation for the wall.
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The backstory: Freight train traffic has been stopped since the last round of rain caused significant sliding toward the bottom of the slope. Metrolink and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner services have also been shut down for more than a month now.
What's next: Passenger rail service could resume as soon as late March or early April, but that schedule may change. The OCTA is also working to get freight trains traveling through the area again “as quickly as possible.”
Go deeper: …to learn more about how this sliding slope held up in the last storm.
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