More, but not all, of Highway 1 is scheduled to reopen south of Big Sur

Weeks after storms and a rockfall closed a long section of Highway 1 south of Big Sur, Caltrans is reopening much of the road to traffic this weekend.

A nearly 20-mile stretch between Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County and Mill Creek in Monterey County is scheduled to reopen Sunday afternoon. A 10 mile stretch between Lime Creek and Paul’s Slide is open to residentsaccording to a press release from the California Department of Transportation on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, parts of Autobahn 1 remain closed. It will be six weeks before Caltrans can reopen the road through the Mill Creek area. The agency is still evaluating how much more time will be needed for repairs on the freeway around Paul’s Slide, where a large landslide hit the roadway weeks ago. Caltrans told the San Jose Mercury News that the agency still had to move about 1 million cubic feet of earth to replace the section of road around Paul’s Slide.

“Currently, Paul’s Slide’s complete road closure of Highway 1 is expected to be long-term,” the agency said.

One-way traffic control will be in place for much of the day at the Polar Star Slide one mile south of Ragged Point and at another location 3.5 miles north of Ragged Point while Caltrans continues repairs.

Recent rainstorms, like one last month, have battered Highway 1, which has taken a beating over the years. It took about three months in 2021 for Caltrans to reopen the road near Big Sur after heavy rain washed a 150-foot stretch of road into the sea.

On February 10, 2021, crews excavate debris from an washed out section of Highway 1 at Rat Creek along the Big Sur coast.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)