Goleta is reopening a stretch of Cathedral Oaks Road Tuesday that has been closed for more than four months after concerns about retaining walls in the area.
Winter storms damaged the “crib walls,” leading the city to close the road and adjacent bike path on Jan. 30 after authorities discovered “voids or pockets” along the infrastructure that supports both the roadway and a bike path.
The section being reopened is Cathedral Oaks Road between Winchester Canyon Road and Calle Real, on the western side of the Winchester Commons housing development.
While the road is now open, the bike lane and shoulder will remain closed, the city said.
Goleta spokeswoman Valerie Kushnerov said city engineers and outside consultants tested the wall’s condition and underlying soil movement, and employed “electrical resistivity testing” and ground-penetrating radar to look for sinkholes and whether any had spread into the ground below Cathedral Oaks Road.
The tests showed no undermining of the road, she said.
Kushnerov said the next step is for the city to find a contractor to design the final repair or replacement of the crib wall system, a process she said could take two years.
She added that when that construction rolls around, the road will be closed again.
In April, Kushnerov told Noozhawk that a permanent fix could carry a price tag of as much as $4 million, a sum the city hopes will be largely reimbursed through state and federal emergency-aid programs.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
