After Two Years of Hauling Rock, Caltrans Completes $85 Million Emergency Seawall on Blues Beach
The first campers returned last weekend
For the past two years, a steady procession of trucks hauling massive boulders across Highway 20 through the mountains and up the Mendocino Coast has become a familiar sight.
The trucks — and the enormous loads they carried — sparked curiosity among locals and visitors alike.
Where where they going? And why? Now, the mystery has an answer.
Caltrans has completed its emergency stabilization project at Blues Beach, part of the larger Westport landslide complex south of Westport. The work included transporting approximately 190,000 tons of rock to reinforce the rapidly eroding coastline beneath Highway 1.
The project, originally budgeted at $110 million, was completed ahead of schedule and under budget at a final cost of approximately $85 million, according to Caltrans spokesperson Manny Machado.
The first campers returned to Blues Beach last weekend following the completion of the revetment work.
“Caltrans and Myers and Sons Construction finished revetment work for the Westport Landslide Emergency project ahead of schedule,” Machado said.
The emergency repairs were launched following severe winter storms in 2022 and 2023 that accelerated movement within the Westport landslide complex — a long-unstable section of coastline roughly 1.3 miles south of Westport where Highway 1 sits approximately 250 feet above the ocean.
The site has a long history of landslides and roadway damage. According to Caltrans, wave action and coastal erosion are continuing to destabilize the bluff beneath the highway, threatening to cut off one of the Mendocino Coast’s principal transportation corridors.
The completed project includes a large coastal rock revetment — the seawall — designed to reduce erosion at the base of the slope, expansion of an existing soldier pile ground anchor wall to stabilize the roadway foundation, and installation of horizontal drains intended to reduce groundwater pressure inside the landslide.
Caltrans officials say the improvements are intended to improve long-term resiliency and head off future road maintenance emergencies.
The agency also announced that it signed a property transfer agreement in March with Kai Poma, nonprofit organization founded by representatives of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, which is expected to take ownership of Blues Beach early this summer. The agreement is expected to go before the California Transportation Commission for final approval in June.
According to Machado, the public entrance to Blues Beach will look much as it did before construction began. A paved turnout east of the construction gate will remain available for public parking.
During construction, the project caused frequent delays along Highway 1, including around-the-clock one-way traffic control and waits of up to 30 minutes for motorists traveling south of Westport.
Although the work on the seawall is complete, Caltrans says additional stabilization measures could still be considered in the future depending on ongoing geotechnical monitoring of the landslide complex.
This is such great news. Once again, you are the 1 st to report on it.
Hopefully this bluff just south of there will hold another few years. My money is on less than 5 years. Double or nothing on 10 years is a sure thing.
Says locals and visitors that have seen it up close.