Highway 1 closure at Paul’s Slide set to reopen soon

The Mud Creek Slide will keep Highway 1 closed for the foreseeable future, but there’s a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel at Paul’s Slide to the north.

A Caltrans news release Thursday pegs the targeted opening of the road at Paul’s Slide, about 22 miles north of the Monterey County line, in the coming week: specifically, between July 15 and 20.

Meanwhile, access there is restricted to limited windows for local residents and deliveries:

▪  5 to 6 a.m. and 7 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday through Thursday.

▪  5:30 to 8 a.m. and 6 to 7:30 p.m. Friday.

A single caravan south and a single caravan north at noon Monday, Wednesday and Friday (delivery vehicles are restricted to 30 feet and 50,000 pounds).

Meanwhile, steel girders continue to be fabricated in Vallejo and sent to Linden, near Stockton, for painting before being trucked to the site of a new bridge to be constructed over Pfeiffer Canyon, 45 miles north of the county line. Workers are welding and completing a temporary tower that will be used to facilitate the $24 million bridge’s launch.

Contractor Golden State Bridge of Benicia will use a “roller-launch” method to slide the heavy, 15-girder completed structure into place over the canyon.

The old bridge structure failed after heavy rains saturated the hillside, and the entire span had to be torn down.

The Mud Creek Slide, nine miles north of the county line, remains impassible. Geotechnical and radar assessments continue at the site, which lost 5 million cubic yards of material May 20, the news release said.

Highway 1 continues to be closed five miles north of Ragged Point. Public access to Gorda and Limekiln State Park is available via Nacimiento-Fergusson Road.

This story was originally published July 13, 2017 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Highway 1 closure at Paul’s Slide set to reopen soon."