Another large boulder fell off of Echo Summit Wednesday morning and crashed down onto the Highway 50 mountain pass in El Dorado County, blocking traffic in both directions, the California Highway Patrol reported.
The six-foot-high boulder fell off the summit shortly after 8 am, the CHP South Lake Tahoe Area Office said on Twitter. Caltrans made quick work getting the eastbound lane open, moving all the debris into the westbound lane.
“Rock slides are often triggered when snow melts into water during daytime warmer temperatures and then freezes overnight. The ice inside cracks in the boulders and can expand the rock and cause it to shift. Our geologists believe that was the case with (the March 3) slide.”
– Caltrans public information officer Steve Nelson told the Tahoe Daily Tribune
Caltrans had to blow up a huge boulder that was blocking Highway 50’s Echo Summit in South Lake Tahoe, CA, on March 5th.
After reopening it, another boulder came down and clobbered a Toyota pickup truck.
