Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press An excavator removes a fallen tree as it digs through a mudslide on Highway 50 near Kyburz, Monday. No one was injured and no homes were threatened, when the slide occurred Sunday.
KYBURZ - A massive rock-and-mudslide east of here forced the closure of Highway 50 for much of Monday, paralyzing a main artery between Nevada and California.
Travel was blocked between the Sacramento Valley to the west and the Lake Tahoe Basin and Eagle Valley to the east from about 11:30 p.m. Sunday night to Monday evening, when construction crews opened one of the four lanes at about 6 p.m.
According to Caltrans, tons of dirt, trees, rocks and debris caked the highway following the slide. No one was injured, and no property damage was reported.
Throughout Monday motorists were turned around at Sly Park and Meyers, leaving Interstate 80 as the primary east-west route between Lake Tahoe and the Sacramento and San Francisco areas.
A geologist was studying the stability of the hillside, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jeff Gartner. It could take several days to reopen the entire highway if there is danger the slope could slide again, he said.
The slide is approximately 120 feet long and 10 to 20 feet high, said Mark Dinger, public information officer for Caltrans. Placerville contractor Doug Veercamp was hired by Caltrans to remove the debris, which is somewhere between 500 to 700 cubic feet, Dinger said. An average dump truck can haul about 8 cubic feet.
"We are fortunate the slide happened when it did," Dinger said.
Veercamp told the Tahoe Daily Tribune on Monday he plans to cut a swath from the slide to allow for limited traffic, enough for a single lane. Dinger said Caltrans will have signs posted warning of controlled traffic through the lane.
Caltrans geologists are at the slide area to determine if more earth movement could happen.
A preliminary review shows the culprit may be an underground spring that loosened the soil. Forest fires have burned in the area in the past, making the highway prone to slides.
However, "This is not an area where we've had historic slide activity," Dinger said.
The slide is east of Kyburz, several miles away from the 1997 Mill Creek slide, which closed Highway 50 for nearly a month.