A rocky mudslide that partially blocked State Route 78 in Julian Thursday evening forced a full closure of the highway Friday that was expected to last into the weekend.
Caltrans closed six miles of the highway between Wynola Road and Great Southern Overland Stage Route.
The agency operated one-way traffic control on the highway Thursday and most of Friday until it determined that rock scaling was necessary to remove loose soil and rocks from the steep hillside.
Pictures tweeted from the Caltrans account showed the giant pile of earth that had fallen onto the road and was pushed to the shoulder of the highway. Among the dirt were several large boulders.
Update: All lanes of SR-78 btw Wynola Road & Great Southern Overland Stage Route in Julian will close early this evening due to an earlier mud/rock slide. The closure will continue into the weekend. Click here for the detour: https://t.co/cpG12n7ZPp #wildflowers pic.twitter.com/9k851diLwF
— Caltrans San Diego (@SDCaltrans) March 9, 2019
According to Caltrans, drivers eastbound on SR-78 from Ramona toward Banner grade will be detoured onto northbound SR-79 at Santa Ysabel, then directed to turn right onto San Felipe Road (S-2), to eastbound SR-78 towards Ocotillo Wells.
Westbound drivers, east of the closure, will be detoured to turn right onto San Felipe Road (S-2) to southbound SR-79, to Santa Ysabel to westbound or eastbound SR-78.
You can follow real-time traffic and road closure updates form Caltrans here.
Local
No injuries were reported.
No other information was available.
Please refresh this page for updates on this story. Details may change as more information becomes available.