Highway 1 reopens after Caltrans clears slide south of Lucia
Update, 12:01 p.m. Wednesday
Highway 1 has reopened Wednesday after the roadway was cleared of debris from a rockslide on Tuesday south of Lucia.
"The roadway was patched up and is reopening as I type," Susana Cruz, Caltrans public information officer, wrote in an email shortly before noon.
She cautioned, however, that more rains could close the highway again: "Rain is in Big Sur's forecast for tomorrow, Thursday (March 15) and Friday (March 16). That means there's a possibility for overnight and future closures."
Cruz said she would provide further updates should conditions warrant.
Original story
A new slide has closed another section of Highway 1, this time 3 miles south of Lucia.
The Chimney Slide, 20 miles north of the Monterey County line, will keep the highway there closed overnight, Caltrans Public Information Officer Susana Cruz wrote in a news release Tuesday afternoon.
Cruz said the situation would be reassessed Wednesday morning.
Stan Russell of the Big Sur Chamber of Commerce described the slide in an email as "a small landslide ... just south of Limekiln State Park."
"There are some boulders on the roadway," he wrote, "so they will have to determine if the asphalt needs repair once the boulders are removed. Rain is expected to continue through the week, so this can complicate cleanup and possibly create new slippage. "
A toll-free hotline is available to check road conditions at 888-836-0866, Russell said.
The slide comes less than a week after Caltrans workers at the huge Mud Creek Slide said weather remained a key factor in reopening the road there on schedule late this summer. A dry winter got wetter when 4.5 inches of rain fell there nearly two weeks ago, and the Central Coast is in the midst of a series of forecast storms.
Last year's wet winter produced not only the Mud Creek Slide on May 20, but also Paul's Slide, which closed down another section of highway before reopening to alternating one-way traffic in July.
This story was originally published March 13, 2018 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Highway 1 reopens after Caltrans clears slide south of Lucia."