Ryan Babroff stood on the edge of the washed-out road just north of Santa Clarita, explaining the problem to a group of volunteers wearing bright orange construction vests. A century-old metal culvert that previously helped drain water off the roadway became detached and fell down the mountainside sometime several years ago. During storms, water now cascades down the sloped part of the road until it pools in this relatively flat stretch, where it then runs directly off the side of the highway — bringing chunks of asphalt with it.
The missing chunk of roadway grew by at least a foot during last year’s Christmas Day storm alone. The plan on Sunday, Babroff explained, was to fill up dozens of sandbags and stack them two-high along the length of the washout to divert the water from rushing down the side.
“But I am by no means a road engineer, if anybody has any other ideas,” Babroff said…