A portion of Highway 18, between 40th Street and Highway 138, into the San Bernardino Mountains remains closed after the road washed away last week, and it’s unknown when it would reopen, Caltrans officials said.

The closure has created travel issues and crews are waiting for the week’s storm to pass, Caltrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said. Heavy rain and snow were forecasted through early Friday.

“Right now we’re in the preliminary stages because of this storm,” Kasinga said Wednesday, Dec. 29. “We’re unable to make any of those calls until this rain passes through. We could get further damage – anything is possible – it depends on how hard it rains at that location and for how long.”

Highways 138 and 330, the two alternate routes to get to the affected areas such as Crestline, Twin Peaks, Lake Arrowhead and Blue Jay, were already getting jammed up with travelers, Kasinga said. Chain control was also in effect, furthering delays, she said.

“It’s too many people trying to chain up to get to the mountain,” Kasinga said. “They really have no business going up there during the storm, it’s not safe. We still could have rockfall in some of the other routes. It’s just really difficult and challenging to travel up there during a storm event.”

The portion of State Route 18, near Highway 138 and Crestline, that washed away during a storm on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Caltrans)

The portion of the road that washed away late Dec. 23  is approximately one mile downhill from Highway 138. Kasinga estimates 20,000 vehicles per day travel through or near the area.

It was damaged after mud and debris – possibly from a previous wildfire – built up and plugged the inlet to the drain that runs underneath the road, which caused water and that debris to come across the road, Kasinga said.

“It started to erode the slope under the roadway,” she said. “So when the road caved in, it was the earth underneath the road that caused the road failure.”

Caltrans has $4.2 million in emergency project funding for the repairs. The goal is to get Highway 18 open as soon as possible, especially for deliveries and mountain residents who use the roadway for commuting and shopping, Kasinga said.

California Highway Patrol Officer Jacob Griede, whose office is based in Running Springs, said folks should expect delays going up the mountain and urged people not to travel during the storm.

“It’s a lot longer to come up to the Big Bear and Arrowhead area and going down,” he said. “I just talked to a FedEx guy yesterday who said it took him two hours to get from the bottom of the mountain to our office.”

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Crestline resident Louis Boehle, who owns Encompass Antiques store in town, said the closure has already impacted his business and travel.

“It’s narrowing how much traffic can come up and down, we really want to encourage people to follow guidelines with the chains,” Boehle said. “It’s causing a lot of roadblocks, we want the tourism but we want people to be safe too.”

Boehle, who’s lived in Crestline for 11 years, said he plans to avoid using the highways and has stockpiled food and supplies for at least one month. But he’s missed holiday plans with family due to the storm and the road closure.

While he wants Highway 18 to reopen as soon as possible, Boehle said he wants the repair work to be done properly, even if it takes a little longer.

“We’ve had small rockslides where it might be out for a week or so,” he said. “But nothing at this caliber.”

The portion of State Route 18, near Highway 138 and Crestline, that washed away during a storm on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Caltrans)

David Arnold, a Skyforest resident, said he’s taken Highway 138 once already, adding about 20 minutes of travel time each way. But he plans to avoid it when there’s more snow on the ground.

“It’s a much smaller, less maintained road,” Arnold said. “It’s steeper and the turns are sharper.”

Arnold, a cameraman who also runs the Lake Arrowhead Traffic Facebook group, said folks should expect a half-day to a day of travel if folks are trying to get up the mountain.

Kevin Somes, Snow Valley Mountain Resort vice president and general manager, said the resort hasn’t been badly impacted as most guests get there from Highway 330 to the 18.

“But we are very impressed with the efforts of Caltrans to quickly get the impacted portions of Highway 18 open,” he said. “Those folks are the unsung heroes of winter driving.”

Sign up for updates on Highway 18 by texting 18REPAIR to 22828 or visiting the Caltrans District 8 social media pages on Facebook or Twitter.

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