CALTRANS EXTENDS ROCKY CREEK CONVOY TO THE PUBLIC
BEGINNING MONDAY, APRIL 29
The public will have access in both directions during the morning convoy. In the afternoon, the public will be able to use the northbound convoy to leave the area; however, only local residents, essential workers and drivers with existing travel reservations will be allowed to join the southbound convoy. There is no exit to the south.
Since convoys need time to alternate the travel direction during the one-hour window, travelers are advised to arrive as early as possible to take advantage. A timely conclusion of the one-hour windows is necessary to maintain the road repair schedule. Caltrans will assess convoy demand during the week to see if the duration or schedule needs to be adjusted. To this point, convoys had only been available to local residents and essential workers.
“Getting Big Sur working again has taken true partnership – from the Governor’s exceptional effort with state agencies, to local businesses, residents, and first responders. And thank you to my colleague Assembly Member Dawn Addis, whose collaboration has been vital,” said State Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). “We are deeply committed to re-opening Big Sur, and as your elected representatives, we will work tirelessly on this effort. The community has taken hit after hit with fires, floods, and road outages. A thoughtful re-opening of Highway 1 gets people back to work and keeps businesses open.”
Since the March 30 slip-out on Highway 1 at Rocky Creek, crews have focused their efforts on stabilizing the edge of the roadway in the southbound lane. Crews are reinforcing the southbound lane as a means of protecting and safeguarding the still viable northbound lane.
Working both daytime and overnight shifts, crews are using a crane to carry a crew basket with drilling equipment over the edge of the roadway to drill stabilizing horizontal rock dowels into the surface below the roadway.
Once the roadway edge is stabilized, crews will install a temporary signal and open Highway 1 to unrestricted traffic under alternating one-way traffic control. Caltrans estimates to complete this work by May 27. This repair schedule may be impacted by excessive winds, rain events or any change in the construction site conditions.
Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans District 5 Social Media platforms: X.com at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.
Does anyone else believe it’s high time CalTrans published a complete report on their analysis of exactly which factors were involved in this “slip-out” and how the investigation(s) revealed their sequences? Certainly groundwater flow was a factor, and gravity. It appears that some backfill was being (“held in place”) by a vertical rock wall built in the 1930’s–were recent replacements done?–IF all this be true, and what factors that demonstrate otherwise if not? Everything I’ve read so far leads me to be concerned about the potential for future slip-ups/outs. Is any realignment planned?
Does this mean PBSSP is reopening for camping?
It looks like at least some Big Sur lodgings are accepting reservations. We were supposed to leave today for a birthday trip but switched it to Cambria once the slip out happened. Even with the convoy open to the public I’d think twice about staying in Big Sur. If you happened to have a medical emergency it would be a huge strain on recourses. Just my opinion but it was the first thing I thought of when I heard the convoy would be open to the public. Hoping for the best.
IMHO: Forcing Caltrans to open the convoy to all vehicles (not just residents and essential workers) was a bad decision and will put the public at risk. Good luck CHP, Ambulance and Fire. Warm up those Medivac helicopters for emergency extraction of those tourists that miss the last convoy and have a health emergency. It takes 45 mins minimum to move the crane and basket.
I’ve been advocating for allowing guests with lodging reservations into the convoy since convoy operations started. Anybody can stop by Deetjen’s from 8:00am-12:00pm and have breakfast with me to ask me about my position and why I believe CalTrans has made the correct concession here. Happy Spring everyone. Your neighbor, Matt.
I would love to see a drone shot of the lines this weekend!