Today’s Date: March 6, 2019 at 3:10 pm
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 #1–TRAFFIC ADVISORY**
CALTRANS CONTINUES WITH TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF HWY. 1 WITH CLOSURE LIMITS THAT INCLUDE MUD CREEK/PAUL’S SLIDE
MONTEREY COUNTY —Highway 1 will continue to be closed at Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and Paul’s Slide (PM MON 21.6) due to significant slide activity at both areas. Highway 1 will remain closed at both two locations until further notice.
Businesses along the Big Sur Coast on Hwy. 1 remain open and are accessible via Hwys. 101, 68 and 46.
Caltrans’ Geotech, Maintenance and Construction units are on call and prepared to inspect/clean up when the storm ends during the daylight hours and it is safe to be onsite again—Crews inspected all areas earlier today and found several potentially unstable perched boulders that have been working their way down the mountain at both locations. The south approach of Mud Creek, within the locked gates, has shown one-to-two feet vertical displacement since this storm began and a total of three-to-five feet vertical displacement since last Thursday, Feb. 28 (See attached photos from today). Paul’s Slide is showing spring activity and mud flowing off the hillside; K-rail (temporary guardrail) is reaching full capacity. Photos of Paul’s will follow tomorrow as crews are currently out of range. Caltrans maintenance crews and contractor John Madonna are performing herculean efforts to clear the roadway as quickly as possible. Assessments of the roadway conditions and progress will continue to take place in the morning tomorrow, Thursday, March 7th. Caltrans’ goal is to open the roadway as quickly and safely as possible and our staff remains on-call 24/7.
The gates on either side of Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide will be key locked. These gates will not be manned when the highway is closed and there will be no access to anyone, including Emergency Services or Caltrans employees until a proper assessment can be made and any necessary cleanup has been completed.
NOTE: This advisory applies only to the Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide areas with each closure being treated separately. Please stay tuned for additional information when the roadway opens again. SEE ATTACHED CLOSURE MAP.
An update will be provided by mid-afternoon tomorrow, Thursday, March 7th.
For comparison, here is the same spots on Monday, photos by Rock Knocker:
