Bouquet Creek residents barred from using Bouquet Canyon Road by a county gate, erected near the Big Oaks Lodge, are now forced to drive north around the reservoir through the town of Green Valley and along San Francisquito Canyon Road.
A 10-mile trip from Big Oaks Lodge to Saugus High School, for example, is now a 27-mile circuitous route that follows: six miles north on Bouquet to Spunky Canyon Road; 3 miles northwest on Spunky to San Francisquito Canyon Road; 14 miles west on San Francisquito to Copper Hill Drive and then about 4 miles east on Cooper Hill to either Seco Canyon Road or Haskell Canyon Road and back onto Bouquet.
Although the detour is triple the distance of the regular route straight down Bouquet, it’s the character of the detour roadways that troubles many residents.
Spunky Canyon Road is hilly terrain that winds around sudden sharp 400-foot cliff drops.
“I went through Spunky Canyon Road at night and I couldn’t see anything it was so dark,” said longtime Bouquet Creek resident Richard Knox.
“There are 400-foot cliffs that you can fall off of,” he said. “You build your life on the assumption that you’re just 15 minutes away from the city and then an arbitrary decision to close the road makes that impossible.”
And, San Francisquito Canyon Road has proven to be one of the more treacherous roadways in the Santa Clarita Valley with at least 16 crashes in 20 months.
Between February 2015 and September 2016, at least 16 traffic collisions on San Francisquito Canyon Road resulted in injury or death – four people killed, and least 22 were injured.
Bouquet Creek resident Brenda Lee took the same detour along Spunky Canyon Road to San Francisquito, finding the usual 15-munite trip tripled in time.
“I have a cabin there on Bouquet,” Lee told The Signal Wednesday. “They (County officials) have given me no access to Bouquet Canyon Road. It’s insane.
“I had to go all the way around, north on Bouquet and left on Spunky. It turned into a 45-minute trip just to get to the bottom of Bouquet Canyon Road.
On Monday, Bouquet Canyon Road was shut down for six months – over concerns about the flooding of Bouquet Canyon Creek – by officials with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Work.Weekend rains convinced them to close the flood-sensitive road as a safety precaution, fearing traffic collisions and injury.
“The road, which was closed Thursday, Oct. 27, due to predicted rain, will remain closed to all traffic at least through winter storm season, which officially ends on April 15,” Public Works spokesman Steve Frasher announced Monday in a news release.
But, another resident asked how officials could “justify shutting down Bouquet Canyon Road for flood concerns for six months when there is no water on the road 90 percent of the time.”
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on Twitter @jamesarthurholt
Headlines in The Signal for stories reporting traffic collisions on San Francisquito Canyon Road:
2016
Sept. 14 – Motorcyclist hurt in early morning crash on San Francisquito
Sept. 11 – Traffic Collision injures nine
Aug. 13 – One dead following fiery crash in Green Valley
Aug. 6 – Two people hurt in San Francisquito Canyon crash
June 19 – Motorcyclist hurt in early morning crash on San Francisquito
June 5 – Motorcyclist injured in crash on San Francisquito Canyon Road
May 29 – Two treated in motortrike rollover on San Francisquito Canyon Road
March 27 – Motorcyclist injured in crash on San Francisquito Canyon Road
Feb. 18 – One injured in San Francisquito Canyon crash
Feb. 6 – Motorcyclist killed in crash on San Francisquito identified as Acton resident
2015
dec. 27 – UPDATE: Motorcyclist killed in collision on San Francisquito Canyon Road
nov. 16 – woman injured in rollover on San Francisquito Canyon Road
oct. 15 – UPDATE: Sheriff’s deputy killed in traffic collision on San Francisquito Canyon Road
sept. 22 – Motorcyclist injured on winding SCV canyon road
March 29 – Two hurt in solo rollover crash on San Francisquito Canyon Road
feb. 20 – One dead in crash near San Francisquito Road
