Another rockslide temporarily shuts Highway 1 to Big Sur
Open. Closed. Open. Closed. Open. That’s the frequent wet-winter Highway 1 cycle in the Ragged Point to Big Sur area.
An overnight rockslide across both lanes of traffic meant Caltrans once again had to close a section of the scenic highway Thursday, this time 35 miles north of the San Luis Obispo/Monterey county line.
It happened mere hours after the state road agency had reopened the popular route following some roadwork in other areas.
As of early Thursday morning, Caltrans maintenance crews were onsite less than a mile south of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and two miles north of the Esalen Institute.
According to Kevin Drabinski, Caltrans spokesman, reached by phone about 8:15 a.m., crews had been able to clear the rockslide there, and Caltrans had reopened the highway.
Until next time. With more rain in the forecast between now and Christmas, what happens next is up to Mother Nature and gravity.
When heavy or frequent rain falls on nearly vertical cliffs and flows through the soil behind them, the too-predictable result is downward slides of rocks and boulders, debris, soil and sometimes even trees.
As Drabinski said he’d been told by a geotechnical expert, “‘when rain hits the dirt, it makes it heavier and lubricates it.’”
The slides flow down to and often beyond the roadbed, halting traffic and making it mandatory to keep people away to keep them safe.
And the highway closes again while contractors scrape off the goo and start over.
In extreme cases, the slides take the highway with them as they rumble down toward the sea. Those closures take much longer to fix, sometimes months or more than a year.
While this closure has reopened, the Big Sur area Highway 1 situation will most certainly be a continuing story throughout the rainy season.
For traffic updates on other state highways in Monterey County, travelers may contact Caltrans District 5 Public Affairs at 805-549-3318 or can visit the District 5 website at: https://dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-5.
