Lake Elsinore officials have reopened the entrance to the popular poppy fields in Walker Canyon, which were overrun by visitors during the superbloom
Lake Elsinore has never seen such a huge influx of visitors for such an enormous bloom, Mayor Steve Manos said.
“We don’t have the infrastructure to support those numbers,” he said. “We’re going to be changing our plan of attack.”, the city had anticipated large crowds and opened parking lots to accommodate visitors. But the reality was far worse than they imagined, Manos said. This past weekend, the city began offering a shuttle service to Walker Canyon from the Outlets at Lake Elsinore for $5 per person in an attempt to alleviate traffic on the 15 Freeway and surrounding surface streets.
Officials closed roads to residents and designated a shuttle-only lane on the highway. But by 2 p.m., those roads had become congested anyway and vehicles blocked access to the shuttles, resulting in hours-long wait times and even worse traffic, Manos said.Access to Walker Canyon was shut down about 5 p.m.
The city is now reevaluating how best to handle all the sightseers. In a Facebook post with a hashtag advising residents to “hang in there,” officials say Lake Elsinore is working on a new plan for the coming weekend.Essential California Newsletter
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