Motorists creep along 1 lane after part of California's iconic Highway 1 collapses

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

Updated 6:51 PM CDT, April 1, 2024

BIG SUR, Calif. (AP) — Motorists crept along one lane of a scenic stretch of California’s iconic Highway 1 on Monday after a giant chunk of it collapsed into the ocean following heavy weekend rains, stranding as many as 1,600 people in the coastal community of Big Sur.

Convoys of vehicles resumed at 8 a.m. Monday for one lane of the highway, although most of the people trapped in Big Sur were allowed to leave when a single lane was reopened Sunday after being closed overnight, said Kevin Drabinski, a spokesperson for the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans.

“During the time the convoys are passing, we physically have observers on sight to put eyes on the condition of the roadway to make sure it’s still safe to travel,” Drabinski said.

The collapse occurred Saturday near Rocky Creek Bridge about 17 miles (27 kilometers) south of Monterey, and traffic backed up for miles in both directions.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/california-storm-highway-collapse-big-sur-7776ec0459e9ca2f8e99500004c31b81

---

Marta and I drove up highway 1 in 97. It was beautiful.

[Old Crank]

1. There isn't much there to put the lane back in place.

They may have to secure the centerline with steel pylons and then dig away another lane on the hill side to keep the section open. Another option would be to bridge that part.

That whole section is very unstable when wet. The last 2 years have been wet.

[riversedge]

2. This is not just a patch job. whow.

https://dims.apnews.com/dims4/default/f0e4d8c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/960x1280+0+0/resize/960x1280!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.apnews.com%2Fd5%2Fe6%2F82b7b9699ffe8d7bd2f37462e3e9%2F7ff47db64cd8401a989986bafb8751f9

[Botany]

10. T.Y. for posting

That picture shows that “the fix” will not be easy.

[underpants]

28. There's no guardrail?

Not as steep a drop but there were sections of the old West Virginia parkway without guardrails. Not as steep but it wouldn’t have mattered.
Yikes.

[intheflow]

3. Route 1 is so beautiful and

“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.”

Will Durant

[PatSeg]

7. Great quote

[surfered]

8. Exactly! It's a beautiful drive, but..

…parts of it slough off every rainy winter.

[3Hotdogs]

4. --- and I use'ta think U.S. 22 in N.J. was bad.

[FifthColumn]

5. What a disaster!

Guess they'll have to film all those car commercials somewhere else now!

[2naSalit]

6. I would be...

Quite willing to go the long way around rather than drive over that little section of not much road.

[burrowowl]

9. K&R

[MOMFUDSKI]

11. We did that drive some years ago. Fabulous!

I told my husband that I am so glad we did because I don’t think I would ever want to again. Too hazardous.

[Farmer-Rick]

12. Me thinks sea level rise

Had something to do with this.

[Zeitghost]

18. Nope

This is caused by rain washing out the earth under the road. The ocean doesn't come close to that part of the road.

[hunter]

23. If you mean vertically, sure.

Looking at the photo you'll see the retaining wall that supported the highway is in the ocean.

The ocean is continuously chewing away at the base of the cliffs Highway 1 is perched on. Rising sea levels will only accelerate the process.

Wet weather is the immediate cause of this particular collapse but these cliffs were collapsing into the ocean long before the highway was built.

Mountains rise up and water tears them down.

[NanaCat]

31. The ocean gets nowhere near the retaining wall.

The retaining wall went down about 10ft beneath the road itself. The cliffside it's built into is bare for many more feet down to the ocean. Rain water seeped past the retaining wall and underneath the road to the cliffside itself. That's what caused the erosion, not the ocean, which is at least another 50 feet below the retaining wall. I'm not sure of the exact measurement, but I do know that the drop is s-t-e-e-p. Used to make the trip from SF just to watch sunsets from vista points along Big Sur. It was worth every second of the trip to get there.

Anyway, the smart thing may be to make it a one-lane road along that section, put up a traffic light with a drop arm (similar to RR crossings) on either side, and let one side go, then the other. CA takes forever to do road construction, especially through hills and along beaches, because nature makes far more decisions about what will go where than engineers.

Some of the locals have wanted alternate routes around the parts of US 1 that skirt too close to the water, but nothing's ever done about it.

[hunter]

35. It's a continuous process. The ocean chews away at the base of the cliffs...

... and inevitably everything above, including the highway and structures that support it, fall into the sea. This retaining wall was high above the ocean, now it's in it. It tumbled down the new face of the cliff.

Highway 1 as we know it was never destined to be a permanent feature of the landscape. Even the historic bridges will eventually be taken by the ocean.

Keeping the highway open will always be an engineering challenge.

I'm not sure I'd want to drive on that one lane section of road if it was left unattended with a traffic control light or arm.

I suspect the fear of the "locals" is that the Highway 1 as it now exists will simply be abandoned on the advice of geologists and cost-cutting bureaucrats.

So yeah, this incident was a weather and drainage problem. But as the earth get's hotter and the number of these weather related incidents increases, that's when we start talking about climate change.

[Farmer-Rick]

37. Of course the ocean ate into the cliff side

You don't have a retaining wall sitting in midair. You said it your self: "The cliffside it's built into is bare for many more feet down to the ocean." What do you think made that bare cliff side? The ocean.

Retaining walls are not built into the air. They were built into the cliff side that is being eaten away by the ocean.

[Farmer-Rick]

36. The ocean is in the picture. It is right next to the cliff.

The ocean is eating away at the cliff holding up the road. Look at the picture in the post the ocean is right there. Where do you think the piece of the road fell into? Of course sea level rise caused by global warming has something to do with it.

It may not be the most stable road under normal conditions. And no doubt wind and rain adds to the erosion. But with sea level rise there is faster eroding away of the beaches and cliffs along the ocean's edges. Of course global warming has something to do with it. It's common sense.

[niyad]

13. I drove that road many times. .Apart from the stunning beauty, it always

struck me how vulnerable it was.

[mopinko]

24. been on that road many times.

my ex used to do java 1 in san fran every yr. went w him many times. i was always glad when he was driving, so i cd rubberneck. the times i drove it, it was white knuckle.

[NanaCat]

32. Same here

I'm shocked more people don't die from drunk driving than actually do.

[NNadir]

14. One of the most wonderful nights of my life was in Big Sur.

It was my first trip away with my girlfriend who would later become my wife.

It started in a hot tub under a grove of redwoods through which the stars peeked.

I've often reflected that being there and then was enough to make my life worth living, irrespective of all the pain I'd ever known.

[NBachers]

15. Well shit- My vacation from work starts Friday, and I was planning on going down there. I guess I'll go up north into

the Redwood Empire instead.

[maxsolomon]

25. You can still go - it's a 1-lane blockage.

Probably just a half-hour delay?

[NBachers]

27. I got a place I stay in Pacifica right on the water and it's half an hour away from my home.

Or I got a Hitchcock style hotel I stay at in Boulder Creek in the Santa Cruz mountains.

I may go to one of those.

[pfitz59]

29. Hwy 1 from SF to Legget is stunning,

and less travelled. Lots of state parks and wonderful small towns.

[NBachers]

30. If you stop for gas in Fort Ross, you'll use an analog gas pump where you push the lever on the side to start the gas.

They’ve got a rubber pressure hose that makes the bell ring inside when you run over it.

[NanaCat]

33. When I was in Ft Ross

It was in the late 80s, so either before the fancy digital pumps, or maybe during the transition to them. I don't remember when they came out.

Back in the 70s, we were travelling in the boonies of Louisiana and Alabama, and they had 50s style pumps at one of the stations. My brothers and I were at a complete loss trying to figure out how to operate it, so Mum had to do it. I think it had a windup thing on the side that you had to engage before it would pump?

I dunno, but she operated it like a pro.

[Danascot]

16. I drove the Pacific Coast Highway years ago

It was night and fog came in so thick there was zero visibility. To keep going, I had to open the door and keep the center line in view right below. What can I say? I was young and stupid. Now I'm old and still stupid.

[NanaCat]

34. To be fair

You don't have much choice about moving on if the fogs comes up on US 1. For long stretches of that part of it, shoulders for pulling over and waiting out the fog are rare to non-existent. Even if there were shoulders, your chances of being hit if you're parked on one are over 50%.

There are no good choices when the fog comes up on US 1.

[twodogsbarking]

17. Looks, well, exciting.

[FailureToCommunicate]

19. Scary, but there are worse places to be stranded than Big Sur. That road is crazy in the

best of weather. Beautiful, but dangerous. The highway twists and turns and the vistas are so breathtaking it is too tempting to take you eyes off the road ahead. And in the nighttime, or morning fog, it is just as bad or worse. If you ever go, maybe have a designated driver...that knows the road. (I lived south of Carmel for a time.)

[kimbutgar]

20. I knew someone who retired there and only last two years before moving back inkand

There were numerous landslides and a couple of times she was stuck at home with little food for two weeks. It was a dream of hers to live there and she said it became a nightmare.

[SunSeeker]

21. It is a constant battle to keep Highway 1 open through Big Sur.

Every time I've ever driven to Big Sur, there were eroded sections being rebuilt. The (re)construction is never ending. This looks really bad though.

[CountAllVotes]

22. The Great Highway Interstate 1

I used to live a few blocks from it as it runs close to where I was living in San Francisco.

I can remember all of the sand, sand sand sand!

You'd have to pitch buckets of water out of an open window to get the sand off so you could see.

I lasted less than one year in that apt.

It sucked!

& recommend.

[maxsolomon]

26. You can see chunks of the road laying on the beach.

Yikes, I would not enjoy passing that section.