While Vasquez Canyon Road might be open within the month, a dangerous stretch of Bouquet Canyon Road — a vital path for many in the north half of the Santa Clarita Valley — is expected to stay closed until mid-April.

Bouquet Canyon Road

A recent petition circulating online seeking to demonstrate the dire need for the re-opening of Bouquet Canyon Road for residents won’t be able to change the schedule for the road closure, according to Steve Frasher, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

“As a matter of public safety, that section of the road is deemed unsafe,” Frasher said. “That’s not a matter of popular will, it’s a matter of the safety conditions of the road.”

Even a small amount of precipitation can “wash out” the road, leaving it unsafe to be driven on, officials said.

Vasquez Canyon Road

While nature is working against Los Angeles County efforts to fix Bouquet Canyon, geologic conditions a little farther south are expediting the re-opening of Vasquez Canyon Road.

“This time,” Frasher said, “nature worked with us.”

Once construction crews began to clearing the debris that had fallen onto the road, the hillside began collapsing into the roadway, which allowed Public Works to truck out the extra material much more efficiently.

“And as the hill continued to (collapse), eventually the slope became such that we could begin rebuilding the road,” Frasher added, “much sooner that we thought.”

Frasher expects Vasquez Canyon Road to be re-opened by “the end of the month, if not sooner.”