Date: 12/14/22
To: Big Sur Residents and Businesses
From: Mr. Location Scout / Esther Production
Re: Film Production Activity on Highway 1 in the Big Sur Area on 12/16/22.
In an effort to better communicate with Big Sur residents regarding upcoming filming activities, this is to notify you of an upcoming State permitted Photo/Video shoot scheduled for 12/16/22. from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Our work will require intermittent traffic control (ITC) at and near Bixby Bridge and Hwy 1 (Mile Markers 49.40 to 59.60). As per our permit, a portion of the Bixby Bridge turnout among other turnouts along our route, will be used for parking of production vehicles. (No more than 50% of turnout will be used).
We will be hiring California Highway Patrol officers to facilitate the ITC – ensuring public safety and access with only brief traffic holds of 3 to 5 minutes. This is a fairly small photography shoot so most of our trucks and equipment will be stationed nearby, with any overflow parking only a few miles away, if even necessary.
We have taken all steps to ensure that the required permits have been obtained from Caltrans and the State of California and our production team will be complying with restrictions necessary for a safe and efficient shoot. Esther Productions, the production company organizing this shoot, would like to show its appreciation to the community with a donation to the Mid-Coast Fire Brigade.
Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. I hope this advance notice is helpful for you to plan your day. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to the Location Manager or Producer, or to our local Film Commissioner listed below.
Sincerely,
Jeff Clark, Location Manager
It is so irresponsible of Monterey County to continue to allow filming permits at Bixby Bridge. The constant publicity is so damaging to the place. The data that CABS has collected is a clear picture of how out of hand it is. A year round ban of filming needs to be made. Everyone please write to the county and show them we are all tired of what is happening there.
Everyone who lives or commutes to work in Big Sur knows the ever growing problems that have been created at Bixby Bridge. Yes, social media has contributed to this but so have our County and State agencies that have overly promoted this area to draw people not only to Monterey but the entire state. They sit in their offices, some hundreds of miles away, and issue permits for the film productions here without a care for the negative and public safety issues they have helped to create along an active highway. It often comes to a complete stand still and can take drivers 15 to 30 minutes on busy weekend to just get across the bridge, not to mention the thousands of people crossing a highway and locals struggling to get to and from their home off the Old Coast Road. Time to activate and let our leaders and responsible parties know the “public nuisance” they have helped create and to demand they stop highlighting this location now!!!
In September and October CABS and Keep Big Sur Wild collaborated on a data collection effort at Bixby Bridge that sought to gather information on a number of key data points including:
# of times hwy traffic came to full stop
# of people crossing the highway
Cars parked over the fog line
Illegal u turns
Key findings include:
On labor day weekend there was a rate of 325 hwy crossings per hour (someone crossing from OCR to the west side and then back to OCR was counted as two crossings)
There was an average of 108 pedestrian hwy crossings per hour during Sunday afternoons in September + October
Relatedly, the average number of times the highway came to standstill was 38 per hour on Sunday afternoons with a peak of 70 stops per hour on 9/4
There was an average of 12 cars per hour parked over the fog line on Sunday afternoons
The overall sentiment from data collectors was that risks to pedestrian safety are constant. A full report based on the data collected will be shared in early 2023.