I think this is great news for the Central Coast.
Closure Continues
Today’s Date: March 6, 2019 at 3:10 pm
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
**UPDATE #1–TRAFFIC ADVISORY**
CALTRANS CONTINUES WITH TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF HWY. 1 WITH CLOSURE LIMITS THAT INCLUDE MUD CREEK/PAUL’S SLIDE
MONTEREY COUNTY —Highway 1 will continue to be closed at Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and Paul’s Slide (PM MON 21.6) due to significant slide activity at both areas. Highway 1 will remain closed at both two locations until further notice.
Businesses along the Big Sur Coast on Hwy. 1 remain open and are accessible via Hwys. 101, 68 and 46.
Caltrans’ Geotech, Maintenance and Construction units are on call and prepared to inspect/clean up when the storm ends during the daylight hours and it is safe to be onsite again—Crews inspected all areas earlier today and found several potentially unstable perched boulders that have been working their way down the mountain at both locations. The south approach of Mud Creek, within the locked gates, has shown one-to-two feet vertical displacement since this storm began and a total of three-to-five feet vertical displacement since last Thursday, Feb. 28 (See attached photos from today). Paul’s Slide is showing spring activity and mud flowing off the hillside; K-rail (temporary guardrail) is reaching full capacity. Photos of Paul’s will follow tomorrow as crews are currently out of range. Caltrans maintenance crews and contractor John Madonna are performing herculean efforts to clear the roadway as quickly as possible. Assessments of the roadway conditions and progress will continue to take place in the morning tomorrow, Thursday, March 7th. Caltrans’ goal is to open the roadway as quickly and safely as possible and our staff remains on-call 24/7.
The gates on either side of Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide will be key locked. These gates will not be manned when the highway is closed and there will be no access to anyone, including Emergency Services or Caltrans employees until a proper assessment can be made and any necessary cleanup has been completed.
NOTE: This advisory applies only to the Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide areas with each closure being treated separately. Please stay tuned for additional information when the roadway opens again. SEE ATTACHED CLOSURE MAP.
An update will be provided by mid-afternoon tomorrow, Thursday, March 7th.
For comparison, here is the same spots on Monday, photos by Rock Knocker:
Film Shoot at Bixby
The California Film Commission is the organization that is responsible for issuing the permits for filming on the State Highway 1, including Bixby Bridge. Their website is film.ca.gov and their phone number is 323-860-2960, if you want to speak with them about over use of Bixby Bridge. One thing that has changed is that anyone getting a permit is required to notify bigsurkate and Big Sur Chamber of Commerce.
Highway to close at 5 pm
Today’s Date: March 5, 2019 at 9:45 am
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
**TRAFFIC ADVISORY**
CALTRANS ANNOUNCES TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF HWY. 1 AT MUD CREEK/PAUL’S SLIDE TODAY AT 5 PM
MONTEREY COUNTY — Caltrans has received confirmation from National Weather Service (NOAA) data that a significant storm will reach the areas of Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6) on State Route 1 in the Big Sur area this evening. The Highway 1 closure, for traveler safety, will include the areas of Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide, closing today, Tuesday, March 5 at 5 pm until further notice. SEE ATTACHED CLOSURE MAP.
The closure initiation process will begin at 3 PM with Electronic Message Signs activated and both sets of gates (Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide) closed by 5 pm today. Storm activity is currently forecast through Thursday, March 7.
Businesses along the Big Sur Coast on Hwy. 1 remain open and are accessible via Hwys 101, 68, 46.
Caltrans’ Geotech, Maintenance and Construction units are on call and prepared to inspect/clean up when the storm ends during the daylight hours and it is safe to be onsite again—we currently anticipate this to be Thursday, March 7 (weather dependent). Caltrans’ goal is to open the roadway as quickly and safely as possible and our staff remains on-call 24/7.
The gates on either side of Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide will be key locked. These gates will not be manned when the highway is closed and there will be no access to anyone, including Emergency Services or Caltrans employees until a proper assessment can be made and any necessary cleanup has been completed.
NOTE: Both Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide will close today. An update will be provided by the afternoon of Thursday, March 7 or sooner.
Tourist Tuesday – The Gringo Trail
I have been covering this weekly subject for quite a while now – over a year. As I said the last time, we all know what the problem is, but it is now time to move out of identifying the problem and into finding solutions. I will no longer be reporting on the problems, but now, focusing on the solutions, instead.
In 2016, we started this process at Treebones, then all hell broke loose in our world- Soberanes, then Mud Creek – and it wasn’t until 2018 that we were able to reorganize and get all the stakeholders together for a series of meetings at Lisa Kleissner’s house. This has lead to a variety of approaches which are now taking shape, but focusing on developing our own Sustainable Destination Management Plan. We are in the process of bringing that to our community with some national and international leaders to help us facilitate. Look for an announcement here in the next few months for a community meeting on this project to hopefully meet a couple people who we think can help guide us in this project and on this process.
In researching one of these international leaders, on Sunday, I found this, and wanted to post it for Tourist Tuesday. Unfortunately, I did that through YouTube, not through my own website, so it went up immediately, rather than today, as I intended. The post was incomplete, so I rescheduled it to today. I apologize to those of you who get the email notifications. There were many things I wanted to add, besides the trailer, and so here it is.
The above is just the trailer, but the entire feature length documentary can be purchased for $3.99. One can find the places to purchase this video here: http://gringotrails.com/support-2/
Currently, as some of you are aware, CABS Board, Friends of Garrapatta, and other individuals, two professors at CSUMB are doing a case study on the effect of overtourism on Big Sur. They are both PhDs and professors in the Sustainable Hospitality Department, and are very interested in investigating the problems we have had here, from the back country to the highway, and the roll tourism has played into these problems and the solutions that can be implemented. They are also looking at the MCCVB and See California tourism industries to see what solutions can be obtained in conjunction with their efforts to enhance the tourist experience. I don’t expect the results to be available soon, but when they are, I am hopeful I can share them with you. Until then, attend the B-SAGE event on March 30th and bring your ideas to the solutions board. If I don’t make it, (road/weather/whatever) can someone take a picture of it at the end of the day and send it to me??
Upcoming Storm, 3/4/19
This is a rather long explanation of what is coming, what is likely, and what is possible, although improbable. From NOAA/NWS:
Early morning satellite imagery shows two features of interest over the eastern Pacific approaching the California coast. The first is a comma-shaped cloud mass associated with an upper low currently centered several hundred miles west of San Francisco near 35N/145W. The second is an elongated area of cloudiness to the south of the upper low associated with a plume of subtropical moisture that is taking aim at south-central California. Models have been consistent in keeping these two features largely independent of one another as they approach the coast over the next 36 hours. What this means is that the subtropical moisture plume, and its heavy rain potential, will likely remain mostly to the south of our area. Models generally agree that rainfall associated with this plume will spread onshore across southern Monterey County by around midday Tuesday, but then mostly remain to the south of our area through Wednesday, generating the most intense rainfall across San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. Meanwhile, the upper low will track towards the northern California coast and spread widespread rainfall across our area from late Tuesday into Wednesday. The upper low will entrain enough moisture to generate moderate rainfall amounts across our area, and brief locally heavy rain is possible, especially late Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Rainfall totals from Tuesday through Wednesday are currently forecast to range from a half inch to an inch in most urban/coastal/valley locations, and from 1 to 2 inches in the hills, except up to 3 inches in southwest Monterey County. Rainfall totals of this magnitude combined with saturated soil could result in minor nuisance flooding in low lying areas, but river flooding is not anticipated. Will need to be wary, however, of any indication that the upper low is entraining more significant moisture from the moisture plume to its south. If such a development were to occur, rainfall totals could be significantly higher across our area, and more widespread and serious flooding issues could develop. But given the how consistent the models have been as of late, this more dire scenario seems unlikely.
From John Lindsey, SLO: “This morning’s European (#ECMWF) model run is indicating between 2 and 4 inches of rain starting Tuesday afternoon and continuing through Thursday afternoon.”
24-hour notice of closure
Today’s Date: March 4, 2019
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
**24-HOUR TRAFFIC ADVISORY**
TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF HIGHWAY 1 AT MUD CREEK/PAUL’S SLIDE AT 5 PM TUESDAY, MARCH 5
MONTEREY COUNTY — Caltrans has received confirmation from National Weather Service (NOAA) data that a significant storm is in the forecast for this week including the areas of Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6) on State Route 1 in the Big Sur area.
This advisory is to inform the public to be prepared for preemptive closure of the roadway scheduled for 5 pm Tuesday, March 5th due to a significant storm. A final notice will be sent just prior to the roadway closing. Caltrans will have our Geotech, Maintenance and Construction units on call and prepared to inspect/clean up during daylight hours when the storm ends and it is safe to be onsite again.
The gates on either side of Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide will be key locked. These gates will not be manned when the highway is closed. No one, including Emergency Services or Caltrans employees will be allowed access until a proper assessment can be made and any necessary cleanup has been completed.
NOTE: These advisories apply only to the Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide areas with each closure being treated separately–both locations will close at 5 pm Tuesday, March 5th. Please stand by for additional information.
# # #
B-SAGE Day of Action
48 hour notice on highway closure
Today’s Date: March 3, 2019
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
**48-HOUR TRAFFIC ADVISORY**
POTENTIAL TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF HIGHWAY 1 AT MUD CREEK/PAUL’S SLIDE
MONTEREY COUNTY — Caltrans has received notification from National Weather Service (NOAA) data that there is a significant storm arriving in approximately 48-hours for the areas of Mud Creek (PM 8.9) and Paul’s Slide (PM 21.6) on State Route 1 in the Big Sur area.
This advisory is for travelers to be ready in the event the roadway needs to be closed due to a predicted significant storm and allow time for them to prepare for the closure including stocking up on necessary supplies and making plans.
NOTE: At the 24-hour mark, an updated traffic advisory will be sent, either confirming the full closure or providing additional information. These advisories apply only to the Mud Creek and Paul’s Slide areas with each closure being treated separately.
# # #
Photo Sunday, 3/2/19
I just received this delightful book this past week, and I thought I would share a couple of the pages with you. It is mostly the stories of coming down to Big Sur on mules or horseback checking on the schools – in the mountains and on the coast – bringing books and once bringing a social worker to check on a WWI vet living down in the canyon of the Los Burros Mining District. There are a few historical photographs. It is available on amazon.
