STANISLAUS COUNTY, Calif. — Near Knights Ferry, where Tuolomne and Stanislaus County meet, is the convergence of the 108/120 Highways. It's where a culvert failed this past winter.
Culverts are vital because they move water under roads to prevent pooling and flooding. Rick Brewer, a spokesperson for Caltrans District 10, says the first round of big winter storms around New Year's caused the culvert failure.
He says underneath the road is where two rivers converge. That, mixed with heavy rain and debris, created a need to replace the roughly 60-year-old pipe.
This year alone, District 10 has had about 60 emergency projects. Brewer says there are 10-15 in a typical year, 20 at most.
"We’re talking 3-4x the number of emergency projects in our district alone. Millions and millions of dollars in emergency funds have had to be spent to keep our roads and get them back to where they need to be just because of all those winter storms," said Brewer.
Once it failed, Caltrans had to get approval for the project and hoped to finish it by March. More storms pushed the project back even further and it was finished by early April.
Crews replaced the old pipe with 10, 30,000-lb. concrete blocks placed next to each other to create tunnels. Each tunnel is 10 feet long and 10 feet tall with eight feet of clearance.
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