Update by California Highway Patrol
Update 3/1/23 at 1:18pm: All lanes open!
By Bob on the Scanner
9:37 a.m., March 1, 2023
Highway 101 northbound near Las Positas is closed due to a large tree across all lanes.
This is between Las Positas and La Cumbre exits. The #1 left lane of southbound Highway 101 is also blocked. Lots of traffic backed up in the area.
Photos: CHP
huge backup from Gaviota where it goes to one lane all the way to just north of Refugio (again, northbound) . Feel sorry for those truckers who are probably doing a detour from the I 5. since noon.
Beautiful, but dangerous. They need to be eradicated near where people live.
Freeway backed up for miles. Salinas street packed as are many streets.drive safe
Lots of Eucalyptus coming down lately and those are HEAVY large trees that can crush cars and kill people. Being non-native, shallow-rooted trees I am surprised that we haven’t removed the ones that are bordering the freeways for safety reasons.
Sacjon
Butterflies are one of my favorites. That’s why we can not cut down all the non-native, shallow-rooted trees. No matter how much of an environmental disaster they are.
SAIL – why you hate butterflies?
SAIL – yeah, I was kinda joking. We need emojis or something here 😉
I love the butterflies and the grove is amazing, and also not towering over the freeway where people are driving at high speeds. Picturing one smashing a car and killing the occupants is an awful vision, and sadly the likelihood of that happening is increasing with the weather we have been having.
I know, I know, our community is way more interested in being REACTIVE than PROACTIVE.
But, But, But, But butterflies love the non-native, shallow-rooted trees!!!
Just get creative: :·D
That happened 2 hours ago and traffic is still backed up, sloths
More eucalyptus downed along the 101 between Glen Annie and Winchester. If heading northbound on 101, look to your left and you’ll see a dozen or so have blown over. Does not appear that any of those fell onto any houses or vehicles. Those trees are mucho/mucho dangerous! The two HUGE fallen “yukes” that I remember coming down in years past: Plaza Rubio @ Emerson (was part of the grove at the Northeast corner of the Mission Rose Garden) and the one at the “hard” corner along Puesta del Sol (just up from the SB Museum of Natural History). I camped all over Australia, and the one thing that you do not want to do there is to set up your tent or park your car directly under or near a large Yuke. When I was there a father/daughter sadly lost their lives when a white gum toppled over unexpectedly onto their tent as they were sleeping (RIP).
There was a tree down across Cathedral Oaks too, with only one lane still closed when we went SB about 11:15. Agree it would be nice to see more tall eucs in hazard areas either removed or kept low. Fire hazard in Summer, crush hazard in wind/rain.
These dam*ed, fragile giants here are largely due to one Elwood Cooper, for whom Elwood is named. Back in the 1800s, when the railroad was rumored to being coming to SB, Elwood had the brilliant idea of planting lots of fast-growing Eucalyptus to provide wood for construction and fuel.
Great going, Elwood!