How would you close the gap on Highway 1 near Big Sur? SLO County residents weigh in
While Caltrans officials wait to learn their options for closing the storm-caused gap in Highway 1 at Rat Creek, engineers and problem solvers are no doubt doing NASA-level calculations to figure out what those options will be.
About 9 inches of rain on Jan. 27 and 28 pushed waves of debris, boulders, rocks and mud onto that stretch of the scenic All-American Highway, overwhelming the drainage systems there and carving a huge gulch in the pavement.
While excavators scrape up the goo, junk and boulders, then slide it onto giant dump trucks, those engineers are slaving away on their virtual platforms, trying to solve the reconstruction puzzle.
Never fear, Caltrans! My friends and readers are here to help you.
I posted a hypothetical on Facebook on Feb. 18: “If you had a magic wand, how would you fix the Highway 1 slide at Rat Creek? Or any slide up there?” I urged my respondents to “Be imaginative! Have some fun!” And, oh boy, did they!
My aim wasn’t to make light of such a serious topic, but to levy a little humor to help everybody deal with the frustration and sorrow of having to cope with the situation.
Many respondents offered customary solutions. They suggested adding more so-called “rock sheds,” which are tunnels over the roadway that deflect falling rocks, or charging visiting motorists a toll to drive on the approximately 100-mile stretch between Cambria and Carmel, then using those funds to maintain the roadway and the slippery slopes above and below it.
(Caltrans project manager John Olejnik, who gave a presentation about future plans for making that stretch of Highway 1 more user friendly at the North Coast Advisory Council’s Jan. 17 meeting, has repeatedly said that a toll cannot be levied on a road in an area that has no other options for travel, due to state law. So scratch that idea.)
Some commenters offered the more drastic solution of closing the road to anybody who doesn’t live or work along it, aka nonessential drivers.
However, others took my hint to innovate.
Several people said a bridge is the obvious solution to span the crevasse that goes down to the sea.
Mark Ray of San Simeon said his solution is “a 100-mile-long bridge, like in the Florida Keys.”
Jade Bodine had a concept with a local mineral twist: “I would make a bridge suspended by jade... and call it the Jade Bridge at Rat Creek, LOL!”
Claudia Alexander, half of the creative couple behind Alexander-Denny Jewelers in Cambria, suggested “glass decking as the road, like the one over the Grand Canyon … You could see below as you drive over.”
She recommended keeping the glass ragged on both edges, in keeping with the rugged terrain.
Evelyn Morales of San Simeon’s El Chorlito Mexican Restaurant wanted to rely on her own version of “magic wand thinking,” saying “I would use Glinda’s, be certain to wear my ruby slippers and say where I want to go.”
Her alternate solutions? “My own plastic bubble. If those methods didn’t work for me, I’d have my broom handy and put on my shirt that says ‘Don’t make me call my flying monkeys!’ ”
Mike Lyons, chair of the North Coast Advisory Council, suggested a solution that hearkens back to our childhoods.
“Remember those Plexiglas boxes you used to see in cafeteria lobbies?” he asked. “There were any number of small toys inside and a big mechanical crane. You’d drop a quarter in the slot to manipulate the crane into place, then try to capture the toy in the claw of the crane and drop it onto the exit box. Yours … if you were clever enough to get the crane to respond to your manipulation.”
He continued, “I suggest a huge crane in the middle of the highway. Cars cannot get through either way. You pay the crane operator to pick up your car ... with the passengers in it! ... and Voila!... you are craned over Rat Creek to the other side and on your merry way. No need to repair the highway or build a bridge.”
Cambria magician Rick Bruce responded that the crane “has to look like a Rube Goldberg, or a Dr. Seuss drawing. The claw has to be a white, gloved hand, and the operator needs to sit in it wearing a hard hat ... with comically big dials as controls” of the crane.
Later, Lyons exulted about a vehicular Ferris wheel concept: “Got it! Send an emissary to London to buy their Millennium Wheel, modify the cars so that we can drive our own car onto a platform. Passengers stay in the car (fantastic view!), and when the wheel goes ‘round, eventually you can just drive your car off onto the highway, sayonara, baby!!”
P.J. Webb, former chairwoman and current vice chair of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council, demonstrated her blend of off-the-wall thinking and reminiscing with this suggestion: “How about the Jetson flying cars?”
Patricia Vernie of Washington state, daughter of the late Helen May of Cambria, suggested a vehicular bounce house. Boiiing!
Erica Stewart of San Mateo, sister of Cambria’s Consuelo Macedo, first recommended “tunnels, you know you need them” and then suggested moving the road offshore onto barges.
Violinist Brynn Albanese of Cambria suggested “an auto gondola.” “Depending on the weight and dimensions of your vehicle, there would be specific boxes to drive into,” she wrote. “Probably, it would be way too expensive to be constantly replacing titanium cables. But the thought is kind of funny.”
In a related suggestion, Heidi Santos of Cambria said, “Get big helicopters and gently put a big strap under each individual car, one at the time, and deposit it on the other side. Helicopters are moving big stuff now, let’s give it a try!”
Julie Beaver, violinist, fiddle player, songwriter and singer of Cambria and Paso Robles, had the most suggestions, all of them way outside the cardboard carton.
She came up with this list: “You want creative?? How about an under-the ocean-tunnel like the one that crosses the English Channel? Or a tunnel through the side of the mountain, that would do. Ooooo .... a ferry system that transports your vehicle by boat. Helicopters with a giant claw that grab onto your vehicle and safely take you from one side to the other. Maybe a giant zip line? Better yet, a sling shot!”
That reminded me of a moment long ago when Cambria’s then-honorary Mayor Henry Cooper, in top hat and tails, stood in the surf off Moonstone Beach for a ribbon-cutting for what was to be Cambria’s off-shore parking lot and posed for another photo with a “For Sale” sign in front of Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Yeah, it was for The Cambrian’s April Fool’s Day edition.
And I do love, love a suggestion from my editor, Sarah Linn, who wrote, “Install an actual slide, right down to the ocean. You know, for kids!”
No, you and your vehicle wouldn’t get from one side of the crevasse to the other … but who cares?
Want to know more about the plan for Highway 1 from Cambria to Big Sur? Visit www.sustainablehighway1.com.
This story was originally published February 24, 2021 at 5:05 AM.
