New plan for Highway 1 slide repairs aims to ‘enhance safety’ for drivers, Caltrans says
Caltrans has a new strategy for repairing a 2-mile stretch of Highway 1 near Big Sur damaged by winter storms.
The scenic highway has been closed between Limekiln State Park and Lucia in Monterey County since January due to road repairs following a series of devastating landslides.
“Engineering teams have developed a repair design which will bring the roadway slightly inland as it passes in front of the Paul’s Slide complex,” agency spokesman Kevin Drabinski wrote in a news release Tuesday. “This design also allows for an enlarged catchment area between concrete barriers and fencing placed along the northbound lane and the toe of the slide.
“This will enhance safety for the traveling public as well as for construction and maintenance crews.”
Drabinski said Caltrans has been guided by “two overriding safety priorities while working to fully reopen the highway,” including the safety of road crews.
“The second goal has been to design a repair that will create a safe roadway for the traveling public,” he said.
Northbound Highway 1 remains closed about 22 miles north of the border between Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, just south of the entrance to Limekiln State Park. That park is still shuttered for repairs.
At the north end, the highway is closed at Lucia, about 23 miles north of the county line and 55 miles from the Monterey area.
According to Drabinski, work on that slide-prone section of roadway has been repeatedly delayed by ongoing safety concerns.
Crews are working seven days a week during daylight hours, Drabinski said.
“Because of uncertainty regarding continued slide activity at the repair site as well as weather conditions over the coming months, there is no current estimated time for a full reopening of Highway 1 at Paul’s Slide,” he said.
For information, got to roads.dot.ca.gov/roadscell.ph Caltrans social media, such as Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5. For other travel information, go to roads.dot.ca.gov/roadscell.php.
