Part of Highway 1 near Big Sur crumbles into the sea; road closed indefinitely

Mercury News, by Donald Murphy, Monterey County Herald, 03/17/2011

The southbound lane of Hwy 1 about 2 miles south of Rocky Point
is gone and so is the majority of the northbound lane in Big Sur, Calif.
on Wednesday, March 16, 2011. (Orville Myers/ Special to the Sentinel)

BIG SUR -- Highway 1 was closed to traffic about 12 miles south of Carmel on Wednesday after a stretch of the scenic roadway tumbled toward the Pacific Ocean far below.

About 40-feet of the two-lane highway washed out just after 5 p.m. on a curve south of the Rocky Creek Bridge where the highway hugs the Santa Lucia Mountains. All of the southbound lane was gone as was a chunk of the northbound lane. Soil under the northbound lane was reported sliding as late as 6:30 p.m.

The California Highway Patrol closed the southbound lane of the highway at Palo Colorado Road and drivers going north were stopped at the Bixby Creek Bridge.

No one was injured, a CHP dispatcher said. "Nobody went down. No people got

View Highway 1 closure, Big Sur in a larger maphurt," she said.

It was not immediately known how long the coast road would be closed.

"It could be cleaned up in a couple of days, who knows," the dispatcher said.

Caltrans workers posted signs near Rio Road to the north and near Ragged Point and Cambria to the south warning drivers that the highway was closed.

The road was not completely impassible.

Emergency vehicles would be allowed through "at their own risk," the CHP dispatcher said.

For a while after the closure, people were allowed cross the area on foot, but authorities stopped that as soil continued to erode under the roadway.

The Rocky Point Restaurant north of the closure reported business was down Wednesday night.

"We've had two no-shows. It's totally affecting our business," said bartender Rose Russo. "Two people are stuck in the bar," she said.

One was unable to go south and the other was waiting for his girlfriend coming north from Big Sur.

The Ventana Inn and Spa and the Post Ranch Inn reported that all their expected guests had checked in for the night. At Ventana, a few other people who had been traveling north decided to stay the night after learning of the wash out.

A long closure of Highway 1 would undoubtedly be bad for the tourist-dependent businesses in Big Sur and in the tiny communities along the highway between Big Sur and Ragged Point.

The cause of the slide was not immediately clear. The asphalt nearby looked new and no seeping water was seen. Fresh looking rip-rap was spotted mixed with the earth that fell from beneath the roadway.

"It's basically just nature," the CHP dispatcher said.

Caltrans crews were expected at the slide area early today.

It was not clear late Wednesday if people who wish to cross the slide area on foot would be allowed to do so.

Drivers who wish to get to Big Sur from the north can take Highway 101 to south of King City and the steep and winding Nacimiento-Fergusson Road to the coast.

The slide was reported about 5:10 p.m. by a passer-by who saw the road crumble.

The popular Big Sur International Marathon, in which the runners start 13.1 miles south of the Bixby Creek Bridge and run north along Highway 1, is scheduled for May 1.

Related Article:

Venezuela's Gramoven Mountain on the move