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5h ago

Highway 1 Through Big Sur Fully Reopens After Three-Year Closure

Engineers completed the Regent’s Slide fix months early, bringing economic relief to a tourism-dependent coast.

Aerial shot of Bixby Bridge on the Big Sur coast of California on a sunny afternoon.
Caltrans has worked since January 2023 to remove a landslide that spilled onto the highway at Paul’s Slide during a major storm.
FILE - Cones mark a break in the southbound lane of Highway 1 at Rocky Creek Bridge in Big Sur, Calif., April 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Nic Coury, File)
Crews work on top of Regent’s Slide, above Highway 1 in Big Sur, in 2024. The highway is just reopening.

Overview

  • Caltrans removed barricades at noon Wednesday, reopening the final stretch at Regent’s Slide and restoring uninterrupted travel between Carmel and Cambria and the coastal route between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
  • The last closed segment spanned roughly 6.8 to 7 miles north of Lucia and had been shut since Feb. 9, 2024, following earlier slides and a slip-out near Rocky Creek Bridge.
  • Crews stabilized the slope using remote-controlled bulldozers, thousands of steel bars drilled up to 60 feet, mesh and concrete reinforcements, and real-time monitoring prisms.
  • Officials reported no major worker injuries and an estimated $60 million cost for the Regent’s Slide work, completed roughly three months ahead of the prior late-March timeline.
  • Local businesses that saw traffic drop by about 20–30% during the closures expect relief, though Caltrans cautions winter storms could still trigger temporary or localized shutdowns.