Work is set to begin this week on a temporary wall to protect the railroad tracks near Mariposa Point in San Clemente.
Earlier this month, Caltrans declared a state of emergency in the area, after a landslide damaged a popular pedestrian bridge and sent debris tumbling onto the tracks.
The closure has halted passenger trains between Oceanside and Orange County.
Metrolink and the Orange County Transportation Authority are working together on the project. According to a press release, the catchment wall will be built “at the bottom of the slope using steel beams encased in concrete and large wood planks installed between the beams.” Work could begin as early as Tuesday and continue for the next month.
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Mariposa Point is just one of the many areas along our coast that are feeling the impacts of our recent storms.
The switchback trail leading down to Beacon’s Beach in Encinitas has been closed for more than a month now, due to a bluff collapse, and the cliffs just south of Torrey Pines continue to erode, after a major slide at Black’s Beach last year.
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San Diego State University Geology Professor Emeritus Dr. Pat Abbott said every sea cliff will collapse at some point, but rain makes them even weaker.
“One of the things that makes cliffs susceptible to failure is that they have clay minerals in it,” Abbott said. “When you're here walking around on this surface after a rain, it's gooey, slippery mud. So, if you have that slippery mud inside the rock layers, that means those rock layers are sitting on gooey mud, and that helps sliding.”
Abbott said these areas could continue to slide weeks, or even months after the rain stops.
“This isn't like the surface of the ground that dries out in a few days, because that water has soaked in tens of feet deep,” he said. “Ultimately it will dry out and as it dries, it gets more stable.”
