Road Crews Dynamite 20-Ton Boulder Blocking California Road

Dynamite saved the day when a gigantic, 20-ton boulder rolled onto a California roadway and blocked traffic for six hours on Wednesday.

Road crews from the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) drilled holes into the 15-foot wide rock after it landed on the westbound lane of Highway 50, about 30 miles west of Lake Tahoe, according to NBC Bay Area.

The crews stuffed 3 pounds of explosive sticks inside and blasted the massive stone, breaking it into smaller pieces, which could be easily removed.

CalTrans posted video footage of the dramatic explosion on YouTube Thursday, and it's going viral.

Using dynamite was the "quickest and most cost effective way for us to get rid of it," CalTrans maintenance supervisor Bill Netto said.

Once the crews removed the debris, traffic along the route returned to normal at around 6 p.m. Heavy snowfall was blamed for pushing the boulder down the hillside.

CalTrans crews chose a different technique to remove a massive boulder that fell on Highway 243 near Idyllwild on Tuesday. KABC reports that, instead of detonating the rock, they used an excavator to chip away at it.

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