Drive along California’s Pacific Coast Highway and you’ll catch some of America’s most iconic views. But you’re just as likely to catch yourself turning your car around and heading back the way you came.
The 71-mile section of highway between Carmel and San Simeon is a legendarily scenic drive, but the dramatic topography also makes it hard to keep the road intact: landslides and washouts have closed Highway 1 through Big Sur dozens of times the road first opened in 1937. A landslide in Februrary 2024 covered the road at an area called Regent’s Slide; another stretch of road crumbled off a cliff at Rocky Creek a month later, temporarily stranding about a thousand people and their cars between the two landslides. Caltrans now estimates the highway won’t fully reopen until sometime in 2025.
The West Coast is still active geologically,” said Gary Griggs, professor of Earth sciences at UC Santa Cruz. “It’s a place where tectonic plates have collided….”
To read the rest of this article, and learn something of the geology of the Big Sur coast, see:
Carmel Prepares returns! Join us on Saturday, November 16th, at the Sunset Center (Carpenter Hall) in Carmel from 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.Learn about Winter Storm AND Earthquake Preparedness from our experts: Carmel PD, the Department of Emergency Management, National Weather Service, Monterey Fire, CALFIRE, CERT, and more. Enjoy free refreshments and enter our raffle for a chance to win disaster kits or other preparedness items. Everyone is welcome, so don’t miss this chance to get informed and stay safe!
05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact:
Kevin Drabinski or Genelle Padilla
Phone:
(805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3237
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPDATE #15
THREE FULL OVERNIGHT CLOSURES ON HIGHWAY 1 AT ROCKY CREEK SET FOR MONDAY 10/28, TUESDAY 10/29, WEDNESDAY 10/30
MONTEREY COUNTY – Caltrans will continue with emergency repairs to Highway 1 near the Rocky Creek Bridge, 12 miles south of Carmel. Caltrans previously stabilized and reinforced Highway 1 at this location after a March 30slipout resulted in a loss of a section of the southbound lane.
Upcoming Repair Schedule
Crews have made substantial progress on a construction phase involving the drilling and casting of reinforced concrete columns to support the weight of the viaduct structure. For upcoming construction, travelers can expect three full overnight closures and intermittent daytime closures:
· Full overnight closures of Hwy. 1 at Rocky Creek are scheduled forMonday, Oct. 28, Tuesday, Oct. 29, and Wednesday Oct. 30, from 10 pm to 6 am.
· Highway 1 at Rocky Creek is scheduled to remain fully open during all overnight hours for Thursday Oct. 31 through Sunday Nov. 4.
· For the next two weeks, daytime travelers can expect intermittent delays of up to 20 minutes as crews bring equipment on site for continued excavation work.
Once construction of the southbound section of the Rocky Creek viaduct is complete, travel will be directed onto this southbound section and work will begin on construction of the northbound portion of the viaduct.
The estimate for completion of the Rocky Creek viaduct is summer 2025 and is dependent on conditions encountered during construction. The contractor for this project is Gordon N. Ball, Inc. of Alamo, CA.
Highway 1 remains closed 40 miles south of Carmel due to the Regent’s Slide. However, the vast majority of the Big Sur coast remains accessible and open.
”The 70 miles of California coastline that makes up the unincorporated area of Big Sur has a storied, almost mystical allure, largely thanks to its staggering beauty. With redwood forests, stunning Pacific views, winding rivers and natural hot springs, the area has for decades attracted celebrities, artists and millions of visitors. So many visitors in fact, that these days, Kirk Gafill, the president of the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce, estimates that 90 percent of the local economy is tourism-dependent.
But getting there, and living there, is increasingly difficult.
Big Sur’s main thoroughfare is Highway 1, a scenic two-lane road constructed between 1919 and 1937 as part of a statewide initiative to make the California coastline a drivable tourist attraction. In the past two years, the area has been hit by fires, heavy winter storms and landslides that cut off the community for sometimes months at a time. In March, one chunk of the road crumbled into the sea, restricting car travel to residents only for two months. Another debilitating landslide, in February, continues to cut off the southern portion of the coast: Last month, work in the area to remove debris from the road was paused indefinitely. According to the California Department of Transportation (known as Caltrans), that portion of the roadway won’t reopen until 2025, at the earliest.”
“It’s so important to preserve and protect this landscape, or you will not have economic sustainability,” Ms. Daniels said. (Kate Daniels is the incoming Monterey County Supervisor, for the 5th District, Board of Supervisors, which includes Big Sur.)
She also said, later in that same article: “Our economy relies on tourism and visitation,” Ms. Daniels said. “We won’t have a viable tourism industry if the people that support that industry can no longer afford to live here.”
“My wish is that all of the stakeholders here feel proud of being a part of this extraordinary place,” Mr. Toren said. “And that that pride expresses itself by embracing the notion that this place deserves strength, protection and restoration.” (Magnus Toren, Henry Miller Library as quoted in the above article.)
It is not just Big Sur, but many places on the planet — we are destroying that which we love most, via our numbers, our unconscious members of this community of humans, and our anger and hatred. We have to find a better way to relate to our natural world than how we currently do or we will destroy all these special places.
05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact:
Kevin Drabinski or Genelle Padilla
Phone:
(805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3237
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPDATE #14
REPAIRS TO HIGHWAY 1 AT ROCKY CREEK TO INCLUDE ONE FULL OVERNIGHT CLOSURE
MONTEREY COUNTY – Caltrans will continue with emergency repairs to Highway 1 near the Rocky Creek Bridge, 12 miles south of Carmel. Caltrans previously stabilized and reinforced Highway 1 at this location after a March 30 slipout resulted in a loss of a section of the southbound lane.
Upcoming Repair Schedule
Crews have made substantial progress on a construction phase involving the drilling and casting of reinforced concrete columns to support the weight of the viaduct structure. For upcoming construction, travelers can expect one full overnight closure and intermittent daytime closures:
· A full overnight closure of Hwy. 1 at Rocky Creek is scheduled for Thursday Oct. 24, from 10 pm to 6 am.
· For the next two weeks, daytime travelers can expect intermittent delays of up to 20 minutes as crews bring equipment on site for continued excavation work.
Once construction of the southbound section of the Rocky Creek viaduct is complete, travel will be directed onto this southbound section and work will begin on construction of the northbound portion of the viaduct.
The estimate for completion of the Rocky Creek viaduct is summer 2025 and is dependent on conditions encountered during construction. The contractor for this project is Gordon N. Ball, Inc. of Alamo, CA.
Highway 1 remains closed 40 miles south of Carmel due to the Regent’s Slide. However, the vast majority of the Big Sur coast remains accessible and open.
Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans District 5 Social Media platforms: X/Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.
New study led by UC Santa Cruz also advances understanding of tectonic-plate dynamicsPeer-Reviewed Publication
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SANTA CRUZ
IMAGE: PAUL’S SLIDE, AT POST MILE 22, HAS BEEN ACTIVE FOR MUCH OF THE HISTORY OF HIGHWAY 1 ON THE BIG SUR COAST.view more CREDIT: PHOTO BY KEVIN SCHMIDT/USGS
Along coastal California, the possibility of earthquakes and landslides are commonly prefaced by the phrase, “not if, but when.” This precarious reality is now a bit more predictable thanks to researchers at UC Santa Cruz and The University of Texas at Austin, who found that conditions known to cause slip along fault lines deep underground also lead to landslides above.
The new study, led by UC Santa Cruz geologist Noah Finnegan, used detailed data from two landslide sites in Northern California that researchers have identified and closely monitored for years. Finnegan and his co-author then applied a model originally developed to explain slow fault slip and eventually landed on a striking result: The model worked just as well for landslides as it did for faults.
Doing his part to make it as easy on us South Coasters as he can, and giving us every opportunity to be heard via the ballot box, Andrew asked me to post this:
Hi Kate,
If you could assist in spreading the word I’d be much obliged 😊
Tomorrow, Friday 10.18, I’ll be dropping off a stack of Monterey County Voter Registration forms (at Gorda Store) if anyone needs to still register to vote. They are pre-paid mailers, just fill ‘em out and drop in any outgoing mail slot in town.
Also, on Election Day November 5th, I’ll be posted up at the Gorda mailboxes or inside the store from 12 – 3 pm to receive any last-minute vote-by-mail ballots. I’ll be leaving at 3:01 sharp so I can get the ballots to civilization in time to get them postmarked on election day.
