California’s Highway 1 has been ruptured by a landslide that is expected to keep 23 miles of the iconic road snaking through the state’s rugged coastal cliffs closed for months. A severe winter rain storm last week caused a 150ft fissure along the picturesque thoroughfare tucked against Big Sur, with concrete, trees and mud falling into the sea below. It’s not the first time. Landslides have been a longstanding feature of Highway 1. And with.
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The powerful storm that caused outages, flooding and mudflows also washed out part of Highway 1 along the Big Sur coast. Caltrans crews and emergency contractors are now assessing the damage.
The highway washed out near Rat Creek, about 15 miles south of the town of Big Sur. This particular area is within the burn scar of the Dolan Fire, making it vulnerable to debris flows. So, ahead of this week’s storm, the highway was closed for safety from just south of Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn in Monterey County to Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County.
The road didn’t wash away all at once. On Thursday, in the thick of the storm, debris and water came down the hillside overwhelming the culvert.