San Diego highway damage from SoCal fires hits $20 million

San Diego highway damage from SoCal fires hits $20 million Preliminary estimates of highway damage resulting from Southern California's recent wildfires in San Diego County have climbed to $20 million.
   One of the hardest hit, the winding and mountainous Highway 78 which leads from Escondido to Ramona, is still closed to traffic, but work by state officials is expected to open the most damaged parts by mid-week. California Department of Transportation workers have been rushing to repair nearly five miles of guardrail along the twisting road that cuts along cliffs with hairpin turns. The section of the highway sits amid the 198,000 acres destroyed by the Witch creek fire, the fourth-largest burn area in California history.
   Another seriously damaged section of highway in San Diego County is Highway 76 that winds through the Palomar Mountain area, where crews will be putting down foam laced with growth accelerate to promote recovering of stabilizing vegetation on the mountain-sides near the highway. More than 100 miles of slopes through the county are set to be treated with the foam by Caltrans.
   State officials also said that damage to state roads in the county was far more widespread than in the 2003 wildfires. The most recent wildfires cause significantly more damage also, with the total climbing to $20 million compared to $15 million in 2003. The earlier repairs, when figured in 2007 dollars, would amount to $17 million.