Rio Rd. Weekend back-up, 4/14/18

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• Wait till the road opens to the south...completely flummoxed as to how to address this...

  • Yes, weekends will be hell all summer, it looks like.

    https://bigsurkate.blog

• Maybe word will get around about the miserable traffic & tourists will stop visiting. A couple more road projects and problem solved!

• I arrived at the back up at 2:15pm (trying to get north earlier than I normally would to hopefully avoid traffic) when it was backed up to the north end of Monastery Beach and it took me 30 minutes to get through Rio Road (after which, no traffic).

  Looking at Google Maps right now (5:45pm), it looks backed up to Malpaso Creek on the southern end of Carmel Highlands.

  When I went through, the lights were in their "new" configuration with the short left hand turn lane and the two Hwy 1 left turn lanes going at the same time then the two "straight on" lights coming on once the left turn lanes were empty.

  When I was waiting to come north, lots of traffic was still headed south, so I suspect it'll be backed up for quite a while yet (and everything still looks clear/green on Google Maps once you're through Rio Road).

• What I fail to comprehend is why the barricades were installed over a week ago, and I have not seen any work occurring since. I did see a “ troop” of management type” people early in the week, walking along the shoulder. Exactly how hard is it to comprehend that this so called plan is a failure?! What private contractor would set up a project, install barricades and then freaking walk away for weeks?? Zero accountability— just an oh well, it’s going to be hell all sunmer. Why should we accept this? Some of us work on weekends, and it’s difficult to anticipate travel time, especially since things flowed fairly well later in the week. Just “ not going to town” is not an option! I think the GDF’ing Barricades should be removed until they are actually going to do the work on a revised, night work, accelerated work schedule! Seriously, the people responsible for this tangled mess should be held accountable! Read: fired!! Replaced with intelligent, capable people vs uncaring morons.

  • Susan, I saw plenty of work when I went to town on Wednesday. I am not offering excuses for this project, I think it is horrible and has been handled worse, but I wanted to provide another eyewitness account.

    https://bigsurkate.blog

• Still backed up beyond Malpaso Creek at 7:45pm (according to Google Maps)

• Kate, Pine Cone gave it front page respect...

• Looks like it's *only* backed up to Monastery at 9:30pm (according to Google Maps)

• It finally looks clear - 9:45pm - it's certainly a nice weekend so will attract extra folks to go to Big Sur, and it was busy down the coast, but not even "normal" summer weekend busy, yet alone holiday weekend busy.

  This is a total weekend mess.

• Visit Big Sur for the scenery. Stay for [in] the traffic jams.

  Post these photos on every #BigSur site there is.

• Not only is this an inconvenience for people but it did pose major obstacles for emergency response. Trying to get an ambulance through that back up to town is going to ridiculous. People do not have room to pull aside in most places to clear the lane. And with traffic coming the opposite direction around blind curves, it's too much of a risk to drive in the southbound lane for much of the distance. I know some say to just get CalStar insurance but that's not always going to work. You are not guaranteed that CalStar will be the air ambulance dispatched to your emergency. That's if they can even land. Coming into summer means foggy days. That's a no go for any air ambulance.

  I hope something is figured out. As it stands right now, I don't see it getting better, only worse as summer creeps up.