In Del Norte County, there's a three-mile stretch of Highway 101 that locals describe more like a roller coaster than a road."It's like traveling on the back of a serpent with undulations and back and forths," said Del Norte County District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard. "Bumpy," "twisty" and "scary" are some of the other adjectives that come up often when describing Last Chance Grade, a nickname for the stretch of highway with a lot of folklore."As you drive over it, you kind of go over these, we call them whoopty-doos," said Caltrans Senior Engineering Geologist Charlie Narwold. A reporter traveled to Del Norte County in October to see the conditions herself. Despite having been recently paved, the asphalt was cracking, and there were plenty of "whoopty-doos."The constant maintenance is why Caltrans wants to build a $2 billion tunnel that will bypass the tumultuous landscape. The drive through Last Chance Grade, north of Klamath and south of Crescent City, is lined with towering, majestic redwood trees. The highway's right-of-way cuts through state and national parks also deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Curves in the winding road open up to sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. At times, it feels like you're just hugging the edge of a cliff. But underneath the road is where the trouble begins. The stretch of Highway 101 is built over two types of unstable land. The first of which is called an earth flow, which Narwold said is characterized by low topography and undulations. Underneath the surface is a constantly moving landslide that shifts the earth about 2 inches per year. Then there's the broken formation. Narwold said that section is "very intensely fracture sandstone," which can lead to rock slides, rock fall and sudden failures below the roadway."We've just been kind of clinging to this hillside for over a century now trying to maintain a road," Narwold said.In 2014, Last Chance Grade was reduced to just one lane to make room for maintenance work. In 2021, the Valentine's Day Slide completely closed the highway at Last Chance Grade for days. It finally reopened to two-way traffic in 2023.That nine-year stretch is full of common occurrences, something the people who live in Del Norte County and frequently use the highway know all too well. A lifelineAlexandre Family Farm is on the Northside of Crescent City, just about 15 miles south of the Oregon Border. Owner Blake Alexandre describes the terrain of far north California as "great for cows and those of us that work with cows."Every week, about 55 milk trucks make trips from the farm, down Last Chance Grade, to deliver dairy product across the state. "When is closed, it's an extra four or five hours one way just to get over," Alexandre said. Driving between Crescent City and Klamath usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes. But not when Last Chance Grade is closed or being worked on. It means lost time and money and, in some cases, it's a matter of life and death. Del Norte Ambulance has a station in Crescent City but serves much of the county. When the highway is closed or reduced to just one lane, it can cause issues when it comes to emergency response and transporting patients. "It's just delaying time," Paramedic Moriah Aguilera said. "If someone's bleeding uncontrollably and then we don't get there soon enough, at that point they're gonna start going into shock and it just, it just won't be good."Caltrans District 1 Project Manager Lianna Winkler-Prins calls Highway 101 a "lifeline" in Del Norte County. "There's stories during closures where the local blood bank, for example, they would come drive up to either side of the slide and someone would literally get out with a box and walk it and it would get handed over," Winkler-Prins said. The detour to get around Last Chance Grade is a trek of about 400 miles up 101, across 199 through Oregon, to Interstate 5 and back down to California."You can't even call it a detour at some point. It's just not realistic anymore," Winkler-Prins said. The light at the end of the tunnelFor decades, Caltrans has tried every trick of the trade just to keep Last Chance Grade drivable. In October, Caltrans Construction Engineer Clayton Malmberg took reporters below one of the many retaining walls keeping the highway from sliding into the Pacific Ocean below. Malmberg described the unconventional way the retaining wall had to be built to accommodate the shifting land. "There's multiple nest slides within the larger slide," Malmberg said as he pointed to a crack in the pavement he called the fault of one of those slides. "We had to build this expandable lagging portion so that as these walls move independent of each other, they don't break each other apart."But like other fixes implemented over the years, Malmberg said the wall will eventually fail. Eventually, one of the failures will be catastrophic, he said. It's why engineers are now taking a different route. The proposed tunnel will dip down below the shifting earth, avoiding the landslide terrain and preventing damage to the beloved old-growth redwoods. "We probably had 14 different alternatives, but the impacts were even greater and the cost was even more than the tunnel, which is pretty staggering," Narwold said. Caltrans has yet to identify how they'll pay for the $2 billion tunnel, but community leaders say they'll leave no stone unturned. "It is our obligation to the community that we have a safe route to stay connected to the state of California. Until California says they don't want Del Norte County as part of the state, we'll continue to advocate for that connectivity," Howard said. Right now, Caltrans workers are drilling along the alignment of the proposed tunnel, taking samples of the rock deep below the surface so they know what they're up against as they plan to construct this ambitious feat of engineering. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2030. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
In Del Norte County, there's a three-mile stretch of Highway 101 that locals describe more like a roller coaster than a road.
"It's like traveling on the back of a serpent with undulations and back and forths," said Del Norte County District 3 Supervisor Chris Howard.
"Bumpy," "twisty" and "scary" are some of the other adjectives that come up often when describing Last Chance Grade, a nickname for the stretch of highway with a lot of folklore.
"As you drive over it, you kind of go over these, we call them whoopty-doos," said Caltrans Senior Engineering Geologist Charlie Narwold.
A reporter traveled to Del Norte County in October to see the conditions herself. Despite having been recently paved, the asphalt was cracking, and there were plenty of "whoopty-doos."
The constant maintenance is why Caltrans wants to build a $2 billion tunnel that will bypass the tumultuous landscape.
The drive through Last Chance Grade, north of Klamath and south of Crescent City, is lined with towering, majestic redwood trees. The highway's right-of-way cuts through state and national parks also deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Curves in the winding road open up to sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean. At times, it feels like you're just hugging the edge of a cliff.
But underneath the road is where the trouble begins.
The stretch of Highway 101 is built over two types of unstable land. The first of which is called an earth flow, which Narwold said is characterized by low topography and undulations. Underneath the surface is a constantly moving landslide that shifts the earth about 2 inches per year.
Then there's the broken formation. Narwold said that section is "very intensely fracture sandstone," which can lead to rock slides, rock fall and sudden failures below the roadway.
"We've just been kind of clinging to this hillside for over a century now trying to maintain a road," Narwold said.
In 2014, Last Chance Grade was reduced to just one lane to make room for maintenance work. In 2021, the Valentine's Day Slide completely closed the highway at Last Chance Grade for days. It finally reopened to two-way traffic in 2023.
That nine-year stretch is full of common occurrences, something the people who live in Del Norte County and frequently use the highway know all too well.
A lifeline
Alexandre Family Farm is on the Northside of Crescent City, just about 15 miles south of the Oregon Border. Owner Blake Alexandre describes the terrain of far north California as "great for cows and those of us that work with cows."
Every week, about 55 milk trucks make trips from the farm, down Last Chance Grade, to deliver dairy product across the state.
"When [Last Chance Grade] is closed, it's an extra four or five hours one way just to get over," Alexandre said.
Driving between Crescent City and Klamath usually takes about 30 to 45 minutes. But not when Last Chance Grade is closed or being worked on. It means lost time and money and, in some cases, it's a matter of life and death.
Del Norte Ambulance has a station in Crescent City but serves much of the county. When the highway is closed or reduced to just one lane, it can cause issues when it comes to emergency response and transporting patients.
"It's just delaying time," Paramedic Moriah Aguilera said. "If someone's bleeding uncontrollably and then we don't get there soon enough, at that point they're gonna start going into shock and it just, it just won't be good."
Caltrans District 1 Project Manager Lianna Winkler-Prins calls Highway 101 a "lifeline" in Del Norte County.
"There's stories during closures where the local blood bank, for example, they would come drive up to either side of the slide and someone would literally get out with a box and walk it and it would get handed over," Winkler-Prins said.
The detour to get around Last Chance Grade is a trek of about 400 miles up 101, across 199 through Oregon, to Interstate 5 and back down to California.
"You can't even call it a detour at some point. It's just not realistic anymore," Winkler-Prins said.
The light at the end of the tunnel
For decades, Caltrans has tried every trick of the trade just to keep Last Chance Grade drivable. In October, Caltrans Construction Engineer Clayton Malmberg took reporters below one of the many retaining walls keeping the highway from sliding into the Pacific Ocean below.
Malmberg described the unconventional way the retaining wall had to be built to accommodate the shifting land.
"There's multiple nest slides within the larger slide," Malmberg said as he pointed to a crack in the pavement he called the fault of one of those slides. "We had to build this expandable lagging portion so that as these walls move independent of each other, they don't break each other apart."
But like other fixes implemented over the years, Malmberg said the wall will eventually fail. Eventually, one of the failures will be catastrophic, he said. It's why engineers are now taking a different route.
The proposed tunnel will dip down below the shifting earth, avoiding the landslide terrain and preventing damage to the beloved old-growth redwoods.
"We probably had 14 different alternatives, but the impacts were even greater and the cost was even more than the tunnel, which is pretty staggering," Narwold said.
Caltrans has yet to identify how they'll pay for the $2 billion tunnel, but community leaders say they'll leave no stone unturned.
"It is our obligation to the community that we have a safe route to stay connected to the state of California. Until California says they don't want Del Norte County as part of the state, we'll continue to advocate for that connectivity," Howard said.
Right now, Caltrans workers are drilling along the alignment of the proposed tunnel, taking samples of the rock deep below the surface so they know what they're up against as they plan to construct this ambitious feat of engineering.
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2030.