Calaveras Road Closure Extended through November 2, 2018

The Closure of Calaveras Road to through traffic between Milpitas and Sunol has been extended from September 30, 2018 to Friday, November 2, 2018.

The road will reopen to all traffic, weekdays, weekends, and holidays starting Saturday, November 3, 2018.

Why:

The SFPUC has been working with the appropriate county agencies to secure final approval for renewed public access to the road after a portion of the road was built by the SFPUC to replace a portion undermined by a landslide.

Background:

We have been working since 2011 to replace the 93 year-old Calaveras Dam to increase the reliability of the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System, which serves 2.7 million people in four Bay Area counties.

The closure of Calaveras Road began in July 2016 to protect public safety on the extremely narrow portions of Calaveras Road while large trucks utilized the road for construction.  

Road Closure Details:

Where: Calaveras Road just south of Geary Road (entrance to Sunol Regional Wilderness) to Oakridge Road near the Alameda /Santa Clara County line.

When: July, 2016 through November 2, 2018. The Road will be open on weekdays, weekends, and holidays starting Saturday, November 3, 2018.

For more information, visit sfwater.org/calaverasroad

Thank you for your continued patience. We apologize for the inconvenience.

The Rainbow Trout Count

It is that time again. Time for the Trout Count. Biologists with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission have been working to estimate the total number of adult rainbow trout living in Calaveras Reservoir.



Sunol biologist Randy Renn trolling for fish on the reservoir.

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are a cold water species native to the rivers and lakes of North America. Like all native fishes, it’s important to preserve them and our ecological systems. Monitoring fish populations is an important part of protecting trout in Calaveras Reservoir.



Here is a good specimen from Calaveras Reservoir.

How do the biologists estimate the rainbow trout population size?

They use a technique known as mark and recapture. During spring, when adult rainbow trout migrate from the reservoir upstream to Arroyo Hondo to spawn, the biologists capture and mark as they can. During summer, after the adult fish move back down into the reservoir, the biologists fish for them and check for tags. Knowing how many trout were originally tagged in Arroyo Hondo, they can use the ratio of tagged to untagged fish caught in the reservoir to estimate the total number that are there.

Pictured here is Scott Chenu SFPUC Sunol biologist, with one of his catches.

Our dedicated biologists will continue track the fish through the end of September. After Calaveras Reservoir is refilled, they will check the population size again to see if there is a difference. 

Periodically tracking the rainbow trout population size is also important because it helps our biologists determine whether they are healthy and thriving or being negatively impacted by reservoir operations.

See you around the valley!