By Fran Heller

Paul’s Slide

Mud Creek — emptying out the catchments

I included the Mud Creek photos as I heard a rumor (not from an official source) that they might be considering a similar thing at Paul’s Slide to protect the eventual roadway from subsequent slides. It certainly appears to be one possible solution to the problems at Paul’s Slide, but I am not an engineer nor road warrior, only a reporter, so take it with a grain of salt unless confirmed at some point.

Date:	Friday, October 27, 2023
District:	05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact:	Kevin Drabinski or Jim Shivers
Phone:	(805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3237

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UPDATE #50

REPAIRS COMPLETE AT DANI CREEK SLIDE ON HIGHWAY 1

NORTHERN CLOSURE MOVED TO NORTH END OF PAUL’S SLIDE

MONTEREY/SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTIES – Crews today completed final repairs at Dani Creek on Hwy. 1 where winter storms took out a large section of the roadway just north of Paul’s Slide. The northern closure of Hwy. 1 moved south today by .6 miles, from the town of Lucia to the north end of Paul’s Slide. The southern closure of Hwy. 1 remains at Limekiln State Park. 

Travelers on southbound Hwy. 1 will pass the repair at Dani Creek and encounter a paved turnaround area at the north end of Paul’s Slide. There is no parking at this location. This movement of the northern closure will now provide travelers with direct access to the New Camaldoli Hermitage which was the last business affected by the closure at Dani Creek.

To make repairs at Dani Creek, crews created access in steep terrain down to the bottom of the slide, removed some 30,000 cubic yards of slide material, and built support from the bottom of the slide with fill material.

With compacted fill material in place, crews worked from the inland side of the road to bore through and place an 8-foot diameter culvert under the roadway. This culvert replaces one damaged during winter storms. Crews performed final paving, striping, and installation of guardrails over the last few weeks. Travelers may encounter intermittent traffic control in coming weeks as crews complete revegetation at the site.

Highway 1 remains closed to vehicle, bicycle, and pedestrian traffic for 1.5 miles, between Limekiln State Park to the south, and .6 miles south of the town of Lucia to the north.

Crews continue to advance with repairs at Paul’s Slide working seven days a week. 

Due to dynamic conditions at the repair site as well as anticipated impacts associated with inclement weather in the upcoming months, there is no estimated time for full reopening of Highway 1 at Paul’s Slide at this time.

Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans District 5 Social Media platforms: Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.

Our crews deserve to get home safely too.

Drive slowly and carefully in work zones.

CHP Traffic Incident Information Page: http://cad.chp.ca.gov

Traveler information at: https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

Dani Creek original failure

Original damaged culvert

New Culvert

New turnaround at the northern closure of Paul’s Slide

Ralph’s accident at the end of July that resulted in a TBI has taken up a lot of my time lately. I haven’t been able to keep up with other things as thoroughly as I would like. I finally have him seeing a neurologist with the VA in Palo Alto. His CT scans from Sierra Vista are up here now, he had new ones taken on Thursday and Friday, and he is scheduled for a return to the neurology clinic on 11/2. The brain bleed is worse than I was led to believe back in August, but I got him into the VA system for this injury as fast as I could. Because he can’t drive, and I can’t/won’t drive his motorhome, we are now staying in motels and/or hotels for the time being while all of this is sorted out. One of the hotels we have stayed in provides a degree of serenity in the midst of the chaos of the city — a connection with nature I crave. It even has redwood trees. I truly appreciate it at times like this. Bear with me as I navigate this new territory and take you along with me.

Date:	Friday, October 20, 2023
District:	05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact:	Kevin Drabinski or Jim Shivers
Phone:	(805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3237

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CALTRANS BEGINS HIGHWAY 1 PROJECT TO REMOVE LOGJAM

ON BIG SUR RIVER NEAR FERNWOOD

MONTEREY COUNTY – A project to clear a logjam from the Big Sur River along Highway 1 in Big Sur began this week at Post Mile 47.8, near St. Francis of the Redwoods Church and just north of Fernwood Resort.

Construction activities will take place seven days a week with extended shifts in an effort to clear the logjam in advance of higher river flows this winter.

Travelers will encounter only intermittent traffic control at this location with occasional delays of 5 to 10 minutes.

Caltrans has been mission tasked by the California Office of Emergency Services to perform this work.

The contractor for this $800,000 project is Blaze Engineering of Big Sur, CA. Weather permitting, this project is expected to be completed by November 16.

Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans District 5 Social Media platforms: Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.

Our crews deserve to get home safely too.

Drive slowly and carefully in work zones.

CHP Traffic Incident Information Page: http://cad.chp.ca.gov

Traveler information at: https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

                           | #BeWorkZoneAlert | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube |

A project to clear logs and woody debris from the Big Sur River near Fernwood at Post Mile 47.8 started this week and is expected to continue through mid-November.

###

Kevin Drabinski

Public Information Officer

Caltrans District 5

50 Higuera St.

San Luis Obispo CA 93401

Office: 805.549.3138

Cell: 805.748.1858

TTY 711

It appears that Caltrans is having the catchments cleaned out in anticipation of winter. In addition to all this activity, the pavement is showing significant signs of problems at Gray Slip. Cracking in the pavement and the like, but it is increased over what it was when we went through a bit more than a week ago.

(Please excuse the windshield I can never get clean)

These are my Big Leaf Maples. They planted themselves here, from the helicoptering seeds they produce, back in 1996 after the Wild Fire. Once they sprouted, I babied them for the first couple years. Now they are completely adapted and all I do is have Soren groom them for me. 6” diameter and I can have maple syrup! There are three of them, the double in front counting as one.

Soon, they will be bare.