New landslides block Highway 1 through Big Sur. Will they delay reopening?
Two more landslides along a short stretch of Highway 1 have isolated some Big Sur residents and thrown into doubt a hoped-for late spring or early summer reopening date for that scenic portion of the All-American Road.
While discouraging, the new slides aren’t a surprise, especially along the famous coastal area that’s laced with locations notorious for rainy season earth movement.
The first new slide, dubbed the Dolan Point Slide, happened Feb. 8 about 30 miles north of the San Luis Obispo-Monterey county line, according to Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski.
The next evening, the larger Regent Slide less than two miles south of the Dolan slide added to the roadway woes.
The stubborn, long-term closure and slide repair project at Paul’s Slide is about six miles south of that, or about 22 miles north of the county line.
“Both the Dolan Point and Regent Slide occurred at locations where the roadway is adjacent to steep slopes on the inland side with a severe drop off on the ocean side,” Drabinski said Wednesday.
Drabinski said the Dolan Point Slide was “still active” as of Wednesday night, while at the Regent Slide “water is running down the face of the slope.
“At each of these locations, undermined material that is perched on the slope above the roadway could release at any time, making for unsafe working conditions at the toe of the slide,” Drabinski said. “Material will have to be removed from the top down. If rain brings down perched material, it may expedite this process.”
A series of rain events are forecast for the Central Coast over the next week to 10 days or beyond, “which may impact the date when crews can begin full-fledged repairs,” Drabinski said.
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Meanwhile, repair designs are being formulated for both of the landslides, he said.
Drabinski estimated it will take a month after conditions dry out at the Dolan Point Slide before crews can stabilize the slope, clear the debris and reopen that location.
There is no estimated date for a reopening at the Regent Slide. Once assessments are complete and a repair design is formulated, an update will be provided regarding an estimated reopening date.
As weather and site conditions permit, convoys to allow trapped residents to travel through the Paul’s Slide area for supply runs will resume. Previously scheduled twice-daily convoys from Saturday through Feb. 22 have been canceled due to the expected storms.
This story was originally published February 15, 2024 at 11:30 AM.
