Here is the relevant info re Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide. The rest is pretty much the same:

Mud Creek (PM 8.9)

Mud Creek had a major slide on Saturday, May 20, 2017, losing over 5 million cubic yards of material. Caltrans continues with its plan to realign the existing terrain. The Department has announced a new target of mid-September to get lanes re-opened to traffic. Caltrans will continuously evaluate the opening date as work progresses so we anticipate providing an update in July. It’s expected that even after the highway is re-open, intermittent lane closures and roadwork may continue. The updated current cost is at $54 million.

This week: Work continues on the north cut, middle and north fills, and on north berm.

There is currently no public/local access through the Mud Creek area since this remains an active, emergency construction zone.

Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6)

Paul’s Slide was cleaned up last week from debris and slide material. It is still active but the 24/7traffic signal remains in place and temporary guardrail.

 

Work at State Route 1 Climbing Lane Project to Stop During Big Sur Marathon

Work on the State Route 1 Climbing Lane Project will not be performed during the Big Sur Marathon to help participants and spectators better enjoy the event.

The regular weekday schedule of 7:30 am to 3:30 pm will run through Friday, April 27^th   and resume Monday, April 30^th.  While no work is scheduled for the weekend to accommodate the marathon, the contractor will be onsite Sunday to relocate several k-rails to provide access, breaks and barricades for the race.

What is happening this week on the Climbing Lane Project:

• The project contractor continues grading the north side of the project
• Traffic controls have been modified to facilitate northbound movement

Additional information about the Climbing Lane Project can be found at:

http://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-i-z/resource-management-agency-rma-/public-works-facilities/current-major-projects/highway-1-climbing-lane

Keep an eye out on our coastal bluffs for this activity:

Here is the original story by Lisa Krieger, and it is more thorough, better written, and has  the photos.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/20/busting-plant-smugglers-along-californias-coast/

Smugglers Caught Trafficking Thousands Of Stolen California Succulents

“SANTA CRUZ (KPIX) – A group of people smuggling succulent plants were busted in Northern California.

Wildlife detectives from several agencies made three separate busts along the north coast in Mendocino and Humboldt counties.

Rare and native plants were pulled from the soil and shipped overseas.

It was an international smuggling ring that was trafficking not in guns or drugs, but native California succulent plants called Dudleyas.

“Pretty unusual case for us,” said California Department of Fish and Wildlife Capt. Patrick Foy. “Like nothing we’ve seen before in terms of the scale and the type of poaching involved.”

California Department of Fish and Wildlife investigators busted up the ring in Humboldt and Mendocino counties, where they say poachers were scaling coastal bluffs to rip the plants out of the ground by the thousands.

They would then allegedly ship them to China and Korea where they would be sold on the black market for $40 to $50 each.”

For the rest of the article and the video, go here:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2018/04/20/smugglers-caught-illegally-ship-native-california-succulents-abroad/

 

Apparently MoCo and Cal Trans heard the 75 people from the Highlands (this past weekend alone), local Big Sur businesses and residents, as well as the tourists who called the various chambers and visitors centers…thank goodness.

You are correct it was a mess Saturday for NB traffic. The added Big Sur area visitor traffic due to Spring Break created more afternoon traffic volume that the controller at Rio Road can handle. I am meeting with Caltrans and the county to determine means to reduce the weekend afternoon traffic issues.

We are underway this week to modify Rio Road shopping center side so we can dedicate more signal time to weekend Northbound Highway 1.

We are also working with TAMC to determine if we can reroute Carmel Traffic away from the intersection. Lastly we attempted to flag the intersection to provide relief to northbound traffic but the flaggers pulled off the work as it was unsafe due to uncooperative drivers.

 

By the way this project was designed by a private firm on behalf of TAMC and the County of Monterey and Caltrans. It is also being constructed by private construction company. This is a congested area with no or few alternative routes, many past proposals to resolve highway congestion in the Carmel area have been met with resistance from the area communities. The existing pavement has aged to the point most of it has to be completely replaced adding to the size of the project and increased the impact to traffic.

 

In reference to your comment about a 24/7 work schedule the County of Monterey has a noise ordinance that precludes working at night with the exception of specific work.

 

Thank you for your comments, we will continue to work towards solutions to minimize delays.

 

 

 

 

Dan Miller

Construction Manager

No change on the usual updates, same info as always. Here are the photos, however:

Photos (1-3) of Mud Creek (PM 8.9) from Saturday, April 14; (4-5) of the Coastlands (PM 44.41)