Today’s Date: Friday, December 12, 2014 @ 6:30 pm
District: 5 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San
Benito Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (Bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1 CARMEL TO CAMBRIA UPDATE #2 —
FULL CLOSURE FROM RAGGED POINT TO GORDA

MONTEREY COUNTY — A 10-mile section of Highway 1 will remain closed overnight through Saturday morning, Dec. 13 in both directions from north of Ragged Point at the San Luis Obispo/Monterey County line to Gorda (Mile Marker 10) in Monterey County, 35 miles south of Big Sur due to rock and mudslide activity.

Caltrans will evaluate conditions of the roadway which is still an active/unstable slide area with intermittent wet weather continuing and will provide roadway updates as the situation develops. Any overnight travel along the coast highway is NOT advised unless absolutely necessary.

All businesses on either side of the closure in Big Sur/Ragged Point are open and accessible via Highways 1, 46, 68 and/or 101.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through highway construction zones.

For more information regarding projects on the Central Coast, you may call the toll-free hotline at (888) 836-0866 or visit http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/projects/. The public may also call the statewide CHIN at (800) 427-7623 for updates on current traffic conditions.

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Jim Shivers
Caltrans District 5
Public Information Officer
(805) 549-3237
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PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS AND THOUGHTS BY BIGSURKATE:

On Wednesday, the road was closed overnight due to a slide in the Alder Creek Area. This area is notoriously unstable. The photos Cal Trans sent out, while not identified, look to be this area. Many of you will remember a slide at Alder Creek that I covered in my blog that closed the highway at that location for a month in May of 2011. There is a search box to the right, just above categories, where one can enter Alder Creek and see the reports and some amazing photos of that slide. There was another one in March of 2010. Again, one can find it with the search function on my blog.

Given that rain is expected throughout the month, the next one Sunday night into mid-week, I don’t think we have heard the last of slides in this area. Might even be new slides added.

Please, do not drive this portion of Highway One at night. There is a reason Cal Trans doesn’t work at night. It is dangerous. The two vehicles stuck in the slide at Big Creek last night, and the one that got away severely damaged, are a testament to the danger of doing so.

3 pm – per Cal-Trans Highway One will be closed from Gorda south to Ragged Point from 5 pm tonight until tomorrow morning.

Noon Update from Cal Trans:

We are working hard towards re-opening the highway. At this time we are in the process of slide clean up and removal throughout the entire area. As it stands right now the highway is accessible to emergency vehicles only and we are hoping to re-open later this afternoon.

Current closure is from Esalen on the north and Ragged point on the south.

Greg DeAlba Jr.
Supervisor
Willow Springs Maintenance
(805) 459-7461 Cell
(805) 927-4243 Office
(805) 927-3493 Fax
EMERGENCY Satellite 888-254-5775

SIG ALERT — Highway 1 is closed from Ragged Point in north coastal San Luis Obispo County (Mile Marker 72) to the Coast Gallery in Monterey County (Mile Marker 42) due to multiple rock/mud slides. Crews are on site assessing damage and initiating cleanup. Alternate routes into Big Sur and Ragged Point are Highways 68, 101 and 46.

There is no estimated time of opening.

Stay tuned for updates as conditions develop.

7:30 am – This is the slide I wrote about last night at Big Creek and of which I have a few pictures. One is down below, and those of the damaged car that escaped is coming. Note the road is closed at least until mid day. Two vehicles got stuck in the slide and a third made it to Lucia with major damage, including a missing drivers side window with rocks coming into the back seat. Pics not loading. I’ll add later.

Detail Information
7:25 AM 10 [16] VEHS AT BIG CREEK
7:23 AM 9 [15] [Notification] [CHP]-CTRANS INQ IF ANYONE 28 SR1/BIG CREEK 2 VEH’S 1124 STUCK IN SLIDES, CTRANS NEEDS VEH’S REMOVED SO THEY CAN CLEAR RDWY / BLK TOYT AND GRY FORD ESCAPE BOTH 1124
5:47 AM 8 [14] PER CTRANS – WILL BE CLOSED AT MIN THRU MID DAY
10:04 PM 7 [13] 1039 ENTAC
10:01 PM 6 [12] [Notification] [CHP]-CALTRANS RECALLED WITH UPDATED INFO – SR1 CLOSED BTWN MM 10.1 TO MM 42
9:37 PM 5 [5] AT BIXBY BRIDGE MM 28.09 TO FALLERS PT MM 42.15
9:36 PM 4 [4] PER CALTRANS PUBLIC AFFAIRS – RDWY CLOSED ON SR1
9:30 PM 3 [3] SIG ALERT SENT
9:29 PM 2 [2] SB 1 IS NOW CLOSED AT MPM 48
9:29 PM 1 [1] NB 1 IS NOW CLOSED AT MPM 10
Unit Information
9:29 PM 2 Unit Assigned
9:29 PM 1 Unit At Scene

All photos by Brendon Shave.