Hearst Castle road repairs begin after SLO company wins contract. How long will fixes take?
There’s good news for Hearst Castle fans.
The popular state park has been closed for 16 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for emergency repairs to the access road leading to William Randolph Hearst’s former hilltop estate in San Simeon.
John Madonna Construction of San Luis Obispo has been awarded the nearly $8 million contract to repair storm damage at 27 culvert locations along the 5-mile road that leads from the visitor center to the historic house museum, according to Dan Falat, superintendent of the California State Parks district that includes the Castle.
He said via phone that the contract covers emergency work to remove and replace storm drain piping, as well as repair the pavement at those culverts.
The contract also includes incentives for early completion of the project, Falat said.
For now, the road is estimated to reopen in six to nine months.
SLO construction company has history of North Coast projects
In 2017 and 2018, John Madonna Construction relocated and built a stretch of Highway 1 in a $54 million project to replace a storm-damaged segment at Mud Creek, just north of the border between San Luis Obispo and Monterey counties.
More than 5 million cubic yards of material flowed downslope to bury approximately a quarter-mile of highway under about 250 feet of debris and rocks. The slide created 15 new acres of California land and 2,400 feet of new shoreline.
Another devastating rainstorm hammered Highway 1 near Big Sur in late January, resulting in a mudslide at Rat Creek. About 150 feet of pavement and the cliff supporting it tumbled into the ocean; the road reopened in April.
The same destructive storm struck the North Coast, resulting in widespread damage to the steep, meandering road that leads to Hearst Castle.
The failing or failed drainage channels had probably been cumulatively damaged to a certain degree by previous storms and runoff, Falat said. But adjacent sinkholes that alerted staffers to the nearly catastrophic underground failures didn’t begin to surface until February.
According to Falat, a $32,000 road analysis shows all 27 culverts in the study area will need repairs or replacement.
The subterranean culverts run perpendicular to the roadway — mostly two separated lanes — with many of the drainages going under stonework, trees and the historic Hearst Pergola, an arbor-covered promenade through which Hearst and his guests used to walk and ride horses.
Work begins on Hearst Castle road repairs
In the last week in July, when the state gave the final go-ahead, Madonna Construction and its subcontractors started work on the Hearst Castle road repairs, Falat said.
The crews “are moving around to different locations, working on different components of different aspects of the job,” Falat said Aug. 4. “Right now, they’re cutting the road, removing the current pavement.”
Falat’s staffers “are on site every day,” he said.
Also present are State Parks staff and inspectors from Sacramento, who are there to monitor the work and make sure it’s being done according to all the rules and regulations.
Currently, only one lane of the road is open, with one-way traffic control. It’s only accessible to Castle staff as well as the contractor’s crews and equipment.
“It’s busy,” Falat said, “but that’s a good thing.”
He added that he’s “pleased with progress so far, and the coordination to make sure it’s done the right way, as efficiently as possible.”
Falat, his staffers, Castle enthusiasts, community members and the businesses that rely on Castle visitors for their income “all share the same goal … to get the road fixed quickly and properly,” Falat said.
The superintendent added that those interested in the project’s progress can now monitor its progress at www.hearstcastle.org and www.parks.ca.gov.
This story was originally published August 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
