Day: March 8, 2019

Mud Creek to open by 3:30 today

Photos 1 and 2 of Mud Creek show grouting the cracks to minimize water intrusion and slide displacement above the roadway looking north. Photo 3: shows Paul’s Slide huge boulder before it’s blasted and 4) Video of boulder blasting at Paul’s Slide.

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Today’s Date: March 8, 2019 at 11:30 am

District:           05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa

Cruz Counties

Contact:          Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones

Phone:            (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

**UPDATE #3–TRAFFIC ADVISORY**

HWY. 1 AT MUD CREEK TO RE-OPEN BY 3:30 PM TODAY AND PAUL’S SLIDE RE-OPENED YESTERDAY; MUD CREEK MAY INCLUDE TRAFFIC CONTROL

MONTEREY COUNTY — Caltrans has received confirmation from National Weather Service (NOAA) data that the significant storms have passed in the areas of Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6) on State Route 1 in the Big Sur area. Caltrans Geotech, Maintenance Design and Maintenance crews assessed all road areas within the closure limits again earlier today. Contractor and Caltrans crews have been busy clearing slide material, repairing and paving the roadway to make it traversable for public traffic. As a result, Highway 1 at Mud Creek will re-open today, Friday, March 8 by 3:30 pm; Hwy. 1 at Paul’s Slide re-opened yesterday. (See photos attached). Motorists may encounter traffic control at Mud Creek over the weekend.

NOTE: Our maintenance crews will monitor this location over the weekend and notify us if the movement accelerates or site conditions change. In which case, an update will be provided.

Thanks to the Big Sur community and coastal travelers for their cooperation and patience.

Susana Z. Cruz, Caltrans District 5, Public Information Officer

California Film Commission and Bixby Bridge

Diehl
Date: March 7, 2019 at 11:12:21 PST
To: Klosterman, Eric

Thank you for your response.

Fyi the most recent construction vs film use of Hwy 1 scheduling conflict was this week, which also included completely barring visitor access to the Bixby Bridge viewing turnout & OCR parking area, enforced by numerous CHP personnel. So while your assurances are welcome they do not match my experience on the ground.

Martha  Diehl
from my smart-alec phone

On Mar 7, 2019, at 09:20, Klosterman, Eric wrote:

Hi Martha,

Thanks for your requests.  The California Film Commission, together with Caltrans and the Monterey County Film Commission, has been working to address the concerns of residents in the Big Sur/Bixby Bridge area of Monterey County.  We have long had a moratorium in place during the period from Memorial Day to Labor Day on filming requests that involve any kind of traffic control.

Caltrans does not allow productions to take over exclusive use of turnouts.  Caltrans is the permitting agency for filming on State highways, so they are always in the loop and their local engineers advise the permit office of any planned roadwork that might interfere with or exacerbate filming impacts.  I know of one occasion where the maintenance department of Caltrans didn’t let the traffic engineer who approves permits know about some work they were planning until after he had approved the film permit.  Caltrans has put procedures in place to avoid that happening again.

Monterey County Film Commission is notified with a draft copy of every CFC permit application for Monterey County and can communicate other local events to us that may conflict with proposed filming activity.

We work with the CHP to make local patrol officers assigned to film shoots aware of the needs of the community and insure they do not hold traffic longer than is permitted.  CHP will always suspend filming activities if emergency vehicles need to get through.

We are not issuing permits for helicopter filming below 1000 feet at Bixby Bridge at the present time.  Drone operators who are permitted to operate over the Caltrans right of way are required to follow all FAA regulations.  The FAA has jurisdiction over all aircraft once they are in the air.  Property owners, including State and local governments can set rules for take offs and landings from their property so as to insure public safety.

We take all the issues you raise into consideration with each permit application.  We are exploring with Caltrans other measures we can take in the permitting process to minimize the impact and frequency from filming.  We continue to work with all the stakeholders to develop guidelines that are responsive to their needs.

Eric Klosterman, Permit Department Manager, California Film Commission