Photo by Matthew Janson

Hi All,

Thank you for joining us for the Big Sur Byways Organization (BSBO) on Wednesday, March 5^th. During the meeting, California Coastal Commission (CCC) staff expressed that public comment is due today (March 7^th) by 5:00pm for the March 12^th CCC hearing. The projects going before the commission include Item No. 15b Caltrans Highway 1 signage project and Item No. 15c the Caltrans Mud Creek Landslide Highway 1 Stabilization. Please use this link to submit public comment by scrolling to items 15b and 15c and select ‘submit comment’ : https://www.coastal.ca.gov/meetings/agenda/#/2025/3 . You can also contact Eric Stevens directly at eric.stevens@coastal.ca.gov or 562-395-9462 for questions about the projects or the CCC hearing process.

Thank you again, and the Jubata Grass Story Book presentation will be sent to you all once we receive it. As a reminder, the next BSBO meeting is June 18^th, 2025.

From one South Coast resident: “So it appears that Coastal Commish wanted Mud Creek to also become a recreational/access site, but Caltrans explains that due to Mud Creek being an active slide, it is not practical to host a recreational site on the bench below? Instead, Caltrans recommends converting the point between Alder and Villa creeks as a recreational site, correct? Additionally, Caltrans is asking for finishing work to be performed on Mud Creek to replace sea-side k-rails with a guardrail, re-seed the slope, etc., if I read this correctly?

I will use the comment button, to point out that Caltrans and Coastal Commish are proposing a recreation site at the “Shale Point” location between Alder and Villa creeks, but they aren’t providing restroom facilities. Caltrans repeatedly has stated they “are not in the bathroom business,” when we’ve asked them to make some pull-outs akin to a Rest Stop like at Gaviota. So, I won’t be persuasive, but it’d be good to mention that restrooms at a public “recreation site,” seem like a no brainer.”

Best,

Katie

Katie Scariot, (she/her) or (they/them)Assistant Planner | Advanced Planning TeamHousing and Community Development Department1441 Schilling Place, 2nd Floor South, Salinas, CA 93901Direct: (831) 796-6093ScariotK1@CountyofMonterey.gov

Cone Peak this morning from Limekiln Bridge by Matthew Janson

Date:	Monday, March 3, 2025
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 #31

RAIN TO FORCE CHANGE IN OVERNIGHT CLOSURE AT ROCKY CREEK

FULL CLOSURE NOW SET TO START FRIDAY, MARCH 7 AT 10 PM

MONTEREY COUNTY – Caltrans is continuing 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, 2024, slipout resulted in a loss of a section of the southbound lane.

Rain Forces Date Change for Full Overnight Closure of Hwy. 1 at Rocky Creek 

Due to rain in the forecast this week, the previously announced full overnight closure at Rocky Creek, which was to begin Thursday, March 6, at 10 pm, has been changed.

The full closure of Highway 1 at Rocky Creek will now start on Friday, March 7 at 10 pm. Highway 1 will reopen on Saturday, March 8 at 6 am.

Flaggers will begin intermittent traffic control with delays of up to 10 minutes at 8:00 pm on Friday before the full closure goes into effect.

Crews will take advantage of this overnight closure to switch travel on Highway 1 at Rocky Creek from the northbound lane over to the southbound direction. This switch signals the completion of construction of the southbound viaduct structure and marks an important milestone in repairs at Rocky Creek. In upcoming months, crews will continue with repair work focused on construction of the northbound viaduct structure.

The schedule for the traffic switch and full overnight closure remains weather dependent with updates provided to confirm or announce any changes to this schedule.

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 Walnut Creek, CA.

Travelers are reminded that over 100 miles of Highway 1 on the Big Sur coast remain open and accessible. Travelers from northern California will find easy access to historic bridges, waterfalls, restaurants, and lodging amenities.

Travelers from southern California will find that the highway brings them within reach of the unparalleled views, lodging amenities, and natural wonders of Lucia, the Camaldoli Hermitage, Gorda, Ragged Point, San Simeon, and Cambria.

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.

ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress to Keep Public Lands in Public Hands 

https://epic.salsalabs.org/public-lands/index.html

“Members of Congress are planning to sell off your public lands and increase the amount of logging, timber sales, and industrial development on them in an attempt to reduce the size of the country’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025 through a process that is called “budget reconciliation”. Congressional intentions to privatize public lands have become increasingly apparent. Last month, one of the first actions taken by the new Congress was the passage of a rules package that makes it easier for Congress to give away and sell off federal public lands. A short time later, a leaked document obtained by Politico Pro revealed Congressional leadership’s proposal to pursue the sale of public lands and increased timber sales on public lands to pay for large tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations. There have also been public statements and bill introductions from various Members of Congress that call for the large-scale selloff of public lands. For example, Senator Mike Lee from Utah has introduced legislation that would call for selloffs of public lands for housing development. Unfortunately, Sen. Lee’s legislation is trying to use the very real housing crisis across the West to push his land sale agenda. We anticipate more legislation that will also push the public land sell-off agenda soon. The agencies already have the authority to sell or swap small parcels of public lands when it serves the public interest. This process is typically carried out in collaboration with local cities and municipalities, ensuring that the land transfer aligns with community needs and development plans. We also have reason to believe that Congress will use the recent termination of more than 5,800 staff from the agencies that manage our public lands (Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) as a pivot to an argument that public lands should be sold off. This is a years-long campaign mounted by anti-public land lawmakers to undermine federal land management, claim that the federal agencies are not able to properly manage the land, and then advocate for the land to be given away or sold off. Members of Congress are currently working on the country’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025. The deadline for them to come to an agreement is currently March 14th. However, we cannot wait to let them hear from us, since budget negotiations have already begun. Please contact your member of Congress now to tell them that you strongly object to any large-scale selloff of public lands (or increased timber sales) to be used as part of budget reconciliation or for any other purpose and that you want public lands to stay in public hands. Please also share this action alert with others you know who love our public lands.”

Good morning, BSMAAC community members,

Please see the attached revised Big Sur Multi-Agency Advisory Council (BSMAAC) Agenda for next Friday, February 28^th at 10:00am, the agenda packet. The agenda was revised to make a minor edit to remove “none” next to “old business.”

We will be meeting in-person in the conference room at the Big Sur Lodge at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. The address is 47225 CA-1, Big Sur, CA 93920. We are hosting this meeting in-person as well as providing a zoom link for a webinar. The zoom link for the webinar function will allow you to join the meeting virtually or via telephone. As a webinar, participants on zoom can only listen and watch in real time but will not be able to have their video or audio on for the BSMAAC members or members of the public to see/hear. The link is included in the agenda and is listed below. We are in the process of hiring a new audio and visuals technician, so there may be some technical difficulties during this meeting as we are in transition, we greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. 

Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://montereycty.zoom.us/j/93558921374

Phone one-tap:

+16692192599,,93558921374# US (San Jose)

+16699006833,,93558921374# US (San Jose)

Join via audio:

+1 669 219 2599 US (San Jose)

+1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

+1 213 338 8477 US (Los Angeles)

+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

+1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

Webinar ID: 935 5892 1374

Please park down below near the Lodge and walk up the hill to the conference room. We are looking forward to gathering for this quarterly scheduled BSMAAC meeting!

For future agenda requests and updates, please contact me directly at ScariotK1@countyofmonterey.gov  and please CC theDistrict5@countyofmonterey.gov  email address.

All my best,

Katie

Katie Scariot, (she/her) or (they/them)Assistant Planner | Advanced Planning TeamHousing and Community Developmen