Body found near Highway 1 Big Sur repair site identified as SLO County woman
The woman whose body was found Wednesday near the Caltrans work site on Highway 1 at Rat Creek near Big Sur has been identified by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office coroner.
The body of Templeton resident Nancy Algert, 64, was discovered near the job site, agency spokeman Cmdr. Derrel Simpson said Thursday.
According to Simpson, initial reports don’t indicate that there’s anything suspicious about the death.
He initially said the coroner’s office will do the autopsy Thursday, including a toxicology screening. While initial results from the autopsy may indicate the cause of death, toxicology testing takes longer. But by late Thursday, he said the autopsy had been postponed to Friday.
Simpson said that family members have been notified about Algert’s death.
Although the investigation into Algert’s death continues, Simpson said, the current assumption is that Algert parked her vehicle at the southern closure point of the highway, walked to the job site area and fell.
A contractor found her body “about 200 feet outside the area where they were working,” at approximately 10 a.m. Wednesday, Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski said
Drabinski said the contractor closed down the project immediately and called law enforcement officials and Caltrans.
Work on the damaged section of the scenic highway resumed Thursday morning “at the direction of the Monterey County sheriff’s department,” Drabinski said. “Crews lost the majority of one day’s work.”
The one-day delay won’t impact the projected completion of the Highway 1 repair project, according to Drabinski.
Caltrans hopes to reopen the repaired highway by early summer, perhaps in July, depending on effects of any more rainfall this season, as Drabinski estimated during a March 17 presentation to the North Coast Advisory Council.
Highway 1 closure, repairs at Rat Creek near Big Sur
A section of Highway 1 washed out in late January after a major winter storm dropped a huge amount of rain on the area over the course of two days. That rain pushed debris from the Dolan Fire into the area’s drainage pipes, clogging them and creating a backup of water.
About five miles of Highway 1 are currently closed to all vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
The northern turnaround is two miles north of Rat Creek at the Lime Creek Bridge at PM 32.1, and the southern closure is at Big Creek Vista Point at PM 27.3.
Crews are working seven days a week during daylight hours to fix the scenic route, according to Caltrans.
Drabinski told the NCAC that $11.5 million is the current cost estimate for repairs for Rat Creek and burn scar areas to the north that were also damaged or block by the deluge and landslides.
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 10:36 AM.
