This is why I was always terrified of driving on Hwy 1 in this area, especially in the southbound lanes.

LINK




Along the Central Coast, California's scenic Highway 1 is closed 20 miles south of Big Sur after a section of the roadway collapsed when the cliffside below gave way amid torrential rain.

Photos of the highway show a huge piece of the road missing, with both the north and southbound lanes washed away.

Caltrans spokesperson Jim Shivers said the damage to the highway is called a slip out. "It's where we lose a part of the highway and now we're facing a project to clean and repair that stretch," Shivers said. "This is the only location we're aware of where this happened in the storm. Our maintenance team is patrolling the highway now to look for other damage."

Shivers said it's unknown when the road will be reopened, but engineers are assessing the situation and should have more information later today.

The closure is in Rat Creek between MPM 40 and the San Luis Obispo county line, the California Highway Patrol said.

The Big Sur coastline is prone to mudslides and in 2017 a slide closed a stretch of the road for more than a year.

"Anyone familiar with the history of Highway 1 knows that once we get into the rain season, slides of various degrees, slip outs, rock slides is what we face and what we know will happen," Shivers said.

An atmospheric river delivered a soaking to California this week, with the Central Coast receiving the most rainfall. In the Monterey County town of Salinas, mudflows damaged about two dozen homes on Wednesday. The hillside above the area surrounding River Road was susceptible to landslides after last summer's River Fire torched the landscape and made it more prone to erosion.

A peak in the Santa Lucia Mountains received 16 inches of rain from Tuesday to Friday. The city of Monterey recorded 3.46. Before the storm, Monterey had seen only 2.14 inches since Oct. 1.

The stormy weather is tapering off Friday. The Central Coast area, San Francisco Bay Area and other northern regions were expected to remain dry, if cloudy, through the weekend.

Atmospheric rivers are long, narrow bands of water vapor that form over an ocean and flow through the sky. They occur globally but are especially significant on the West Coast of the United States, where they create 30% to 50% of annual precipitation and are linked to water supply and problems such as flooding and mudslides, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The atmospheric river is part of a major change in weather for California, which had significant drought conditions for months. The dryness contributed to wildfires that scorched more than 4.2 million acres in 2020, the most in recorded modern history.

I've driven that stretch of Hwy 1. Fortunately, at the time, it was still there.

Driven it many times, usually heading to Santa Barbara

It's Starting.....

When I lived in California I drove or rode Highway 1 several times (not all of it at once). It has been rerouted in some places due to ground subsidence, but there is nowhere else to go in that stretch. Its far north end was originally conceived to hug the coast all the way to Oregon, but was rejected due to the terrain simply being too rough and even more unstable.

If this was Japan, they'd probably have that fixed within the week. Since it's not, I'll give it two years.

That's going to take a lot of fill material to repair.

Yeah. I don’t think picking the southbound lane would have helped much.

No Sur...

I grew up in the Monterey area and drove that stretch many, many times.

There are no stories about Highway 1 that don't end with "And then the road was closed for at least a year."

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
No Sur...

First, a couple years for a couple million bucks, at least, of environmental studies.

Then solicitation of bids, preferably by lesbian transexual gay ninja....well never mind that one.

Oh, almost forgot, whackyfornia will have to bring in counselors for the grief suffered by the travelers, tree huggers, turtle guardians and other such concerned people.

And don't forget, a ton of compliance officers, remediation officials, permit people, and tons of documentation to be done.

Not necessarily in that order.
.

If only that would happen from La Jolla to Mendocino..... make 5 the new PCH.

quote:

"This is the only location we're aware of where this happened in the storm. Our maintenance team is patrolling the highway now to look for other damage."

"We haven't had a report from them for a few hours now."

Ahhh, California! Drought, wildfires, earthquakes, rolling brownouts and now torrential rains.
Paradise!

quote:

Originally posted by amals:
I've driven that stretch of Hwy 1. Fortunately, at the time, it was still there.

I have too, when traveling between Esalen and Cambria...it was a beautiful drive

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
If this was Japan, they'd probably have that fixed within the week. Since it's not, I'll give it two years.

Wellll, aren't you the optimist!!

Two years?? It'll take at least that long to "study" the "environmental impact" of the issue (as OKCGene mentioned above).
I'm happy staying here in TN, where I was born, and where I belong!!

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
If only that would happen from La Jolla to Mendocino..... make 5 the new PCH.

No thank you, at least not until I can escape.

quote:

Originally posted by craglawnmanor:

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
If this was Japan, they'd probably have that fixed within the week. Since it's not, I'll give it two years.

Wellll, aren't you the optimist!!

Two years?? It'll take at least that long to "study" the "environmental impact" of the issue (as OKCGene mentioned above).
I'm happy staying here in TN, where I was born, and where I belong!!

You’d be surprised. CalTrans seems to be one of very few CA state agencies capable of taking a “let’s get stuff done” approach. Further, you appear to confused about environmental impacts. Those are issues for the little people, not for state agencies. You do know that they make the rules, and they make those rules for you and me, not for them.