Rain extends Highway 41 closure. When will the road reopen?

Drivers hoping to use Highway 41 to travel between Morro Bay and Atascadero will have to wait at least another week for the major road to reopen, according to Caltrans.

Caltrans closed a roughly three-mile stretch of Highway 41 in both directions on March 14 following a landslide caused by recent storms. The closure stretches from San Gabriel Road to Los Altos Road in Atascadero.

“The highway was expected to reopen in both directions this weekend,” Caltrans spokesperson Alexa Bertola said in a news release, “but this week’s storm delayed the reopening due to saturated conditions.”

Although there’s more rain in the weather forecast, Bertola said Caltrans expects to end the highway closure next weekend, at the beginning of April.

So far, she said, “Crews have removed an estimated 7,000 yards of dirt from the slide and slope.”

Approximately 8,000 to 10,000 yards of material remain with top-down excavation expected to continue Friday through the weekend, Bertola said.

The contractor working to clear the roadway as part of a $2.8 million project is Souza Construction of San Luis Obispo.

Meanwhile, the alternate routes are via highways 46, 1 and 101. Message and directional signs warn locals and travelers about the closure, and with nice weather on the horizon for the weekend, new signs will reiterate that there currently is no direct connection between Morro Bay and Atascadero.

In the meantime, travelers can use Highway 46, Highway 1 and Highway 101 as alternate routes, Caltrans said.

Message and directional signs are in place, the agency said, and additional signage is going up “to reiterate there is no direct connection between Morro Bay and Atascadero.”

For traffic updates, call 805-549-3318 or go to dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-5.

This story was originally published March 23, 2023 at 5:25 PM.

Kathe Tanner

The Tribune

805-781-7904 (voicemails only)

Kathe Tanner has been writing about the people and places of SLO County’s North Coast since 1981, first as a columnist and then also as a reporter. Her career has included stints as a bakery owner, public relations director, radio host, trail guide and jewelry designer. She has been a resident of Cambria for more than four decades, and if it’s happening in town, Kathe knows about it.