Hearst Castle road repairs could take 9 months. When will the park reopen?
Hearst Castle in San Simeon will likely remain closed for the rest of 2021 — with the closure possibly extending into 2022, a California State Parks official confirmed.
It will take up to nine months to repair part of a road linking the former hilltop estate of media magnate William Ralph Hearst to the Hearst Castle Visitor Center, according to Dan Falat, superintendent of the state park district that includes the Castle.
Falat said in a phone interview late Thursday that he received a report on the condition of the upper 2.25 miles of access road sooner than he expected, but the news in the report wasn’t encouraging.
According to Falat, the $32,000 road analysis shows all 27 culverts in the study area will need repairs or replacement.
The two affected lanes extend from a set of cattle guards, where the road sections separate to go around the Pergola, up to the gates that open to allow employees and others to drive into and out of the compound itself.
Vehicles that regularly use the road include the heavy, 52-passenger buses that transport visitors to and from the hilltop.
When will Hearst Castle road be repaired?
Hearst Castle has been closed since mid-March 2020.
Initially, state COVID-19 guidelines about social distancing made it impossible for the facility on the North Coast of San Luis Obispo County to reopen, Falat said.
Even though most coronavirus pandemic restrictions were lifted on June 15, allowing museums to fully reopen, the Castle’s road issues will keep the world-renowned estate shuttered longer.
The steep 5-mile road that leads from the visitor center to the hilltop likely was paved in the early 1960s.
Damage to the access road’s top portion was detected after the torrential storm in late January that dumped more than 18 inches of rain on the area in less than two days. Falat said then that an emergency study was required to determine the extent of the damage to that section of the road and plan repair strategies.
Getting the study done more quickly than expected, he said, required extensive work from “headquarters staff, the consultant and engineers, plus many consultations with the Hearst Corporation,” which owns the sprawling 83,000-acre ranch that surrounds the Castle property.
Now the results of the study are in, road fixes can move forward.
Falat hopes to complete bidding and award the contract for the roadwork contract in early July. Then crews can begin the repairs on the two divided lanes, which could take from six to nine months to complete, he estimated.
That’s sobering news for him and Hearst Castle’s staff, as well as people who want to visit the state historical monument and businesses that rely on that tourist trade.
Previously, State Parks had hoped that the road repair work could be done in alternating stages, one side first and then the other.
Doing the repairs in stages, might have allowed the Castle to reopen earlier, Falat said in May.
Now, “there are varying prescriptions about how the work will be done, due to the level of it that has to be done,” he said Thursday.
Damage in some of the areas “is more complicated than in others,” Falat explained. “You’re on the side of a hill and you have to make sure to follow safety protocols and the protections for a state historical monument. It has to be done in a manner that is consistent with the Castle and our mantra of making sure we do it all appropriately.
“We won’t know what’s truly there until they get in there” and can see the situation directly, Falat explained. “There could be successes and unexpected challenges. But we feel we have a good plan moving forward.”
North Coast business owners react to roadwork estimates
Discouraged North Coast business owners and residents reacted quickly to estimates of how long the Castle could remain closed.
Aaron Linn, Linn general manager and co-owner of Linn’s Restaurants, Inc., and Linn’s Fruit Bin Inc., in Cambria, said he was dismayed by the news.
While acknowledging that state roadwork usually takes longer because of complex bidding and contract negotiations, Linn said the time frame for the repairs still seems extra long to him.
“Surely there’s a way to do it faster,” Linn said. “If they were operating a for-profit business, they wouldn’t survive. Time is a-wasting. At least they could open the visitor center.”
“Either way, Cambria will continue to be a destination,” Linn added, but he worries about business owners in San Simeon, who have been hit harder during the Castle closure. “Hopefully, their attractive hotel and food promotions will help them make it through.”
Mel McColloch, longtime president of the Cambria Chamber of Commerce, said the estimated timeline for fixing the road leading to Hearst Castle is “hard to fathom based on the speed with which Caltrans gets much bigger Highway 1 repairs done.”
“Maybe the state should turn the project over to private enterprises, McColloch said. “Losing another six months of summer income on top of what they have lost during the pandemic is going to be disastrous to many of our San Simeon member businesses and other businesses in San Simeon.”
It took Caltrans less than three months to repair Highway 1 after a debris flow triggered by a January storm took out a 150-foot chunk of the road at Ragged Point near Big Sur. The scenic highway reopened April 23 — two months ahead of schedule.
Michael Hanchett, who co-manages Cavalier Oceanfront Resort in San Simeon and other properties, said “the delay in reopening of the Castle is certainly not welcome news, but I am sure it is as much a problem for Dan and his staff as it is for all of us.
“We again will not complain and yell about the problem but instead try and figure out a marketing campaign that will help us extend the season and promote the other many attractions and draws we have.”
Hanchett added that he’ll encourage “our community to smile bigger and work to promote a positive message” to attract visitors who want to see “the beaches, hiking trails and the wonderful animals that inhabit our beautiful wonderland,” as well as Highway 1, the elephant seal rookery at Piedras Blancas and Piedras Blancas Light Station.
Are other repairs needed for access road?
According to Falat, a study of the entire road connecting the Hearst Castle Visitor Center to the hilltop has been in the planning stages for some time — adding that the remainder not covered by this emergency repair project will be examined later.
The analysis will be similar to what had to be done quickly this year, Falat said, just “not under the exigent circumstances we found ourselves in with these culverts.
“With the current project, we are dealing with the immediate and the here and now, a very narrow focus on the storm damage where culverts have failed. Fixing them is critical not only for that part of the road, but for the rest of it as well.”
The remainder of the road could be studied while the repairs on the upper portion are being done, he said. “We need to assess the road in its entirety, what does it need, are there things about it we do not know. If anything is found, we need to make sure the rest of the road is stable and secure.”
The state has set aside $550,000 for that larger road study, he said.
To help keep the public in the loop about the progress of Hearst Castle projects, Falat said, staff is launching new project pages on the HearstCastle.org and Parks.ca.gov websites.
That will keep the lines of communication open and readily available, he said, “so we can explain the challenges and celebrate the successes. We do know the impact that the Castle has on so many aspects of the county, the state, the country and the world, and this is another opportunity to share information at a periodic pace.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 12:14 PM.
