A view of Regent’s Slide from high above the 450-foot slip out. Photo courtesy Caltrans
Blessed with mostly good weather, Caltrans has managed to completely reopen Hwy 1 months ahead of schedule.
Work crews finished up enough of the repairs to the massive Regent’s Slide and the State reopened the scenic highway Jan. 14. It had set a March 31 reopening date.
“The reopening,” Caltrans said in a news release, “restores full travel access along the iconic Big Sur Coast and revives a vital economic lifeline for local business owners and residents affected by the closure.
“The reopening reconnects communities, supports local businesses and facilitates the safe flow of goods and services along this vital coastal corridor.”
Over six miles of the highway was closed to through traffic after the 450-foot Regent’s Slide came down on Feb. 9, 2024 during a fierce rainstorm. It was the latest major slide in the same general area of Hwy 1 and nearly adjacent to Paul’s Slide, which came crashing down in January 2023 and also closed the roadway.
It’s been nearly three years since the highway connecting Carmel and Cambria has been fully open. Regent’s Slide happened just a few miles north of Lucia.
California Transportation Secretary, Toks Omishakin, said, “Delivering this complex project ahead of schedule while protecting workers’ safety on one of the state’s most challenging slopes is a testament to the skill and dedication of everyone involved. We are thankful for the patience of the communities and businesses as we tackled this major reopening effort.”
The Governor celebrated the early reopening too. “I’m grateful to Caltrans crews for delivering Highway 1 ahead of schedule,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said, “deploying remotely controlled heavy equipment, stabilizing slopes with thousands of steel reinforcements drilled up to 60-feet deep, and using cutting-edge monitoring systems to overcome extraordinary geological challenges while keeping workers safe.”
The Governor acknowledged the importance of the highway.
“This vital corridor is the gateway to California’s Coast,” Gov. Newsom said, “and the lifeblood of the Big Sur economy — and today it’s restored.”
But like rust, work on this highway never really stops. Caltrans said there would be future delays and closures as they continue to finish up the work.
“Over the next months, travelers on Highway 1 at Regent’s Slide and other locations may encounter occasional full closures while crews remove debris following seasonal weather events and intermittent delays due to ongoing construction.”
It’s been a Herculean task clearing away this landslide. “In the days leading up to reopening the roadway, Caltrans removed approximately 6,000 cubic yards of mud and debris [enough to fill 240 dump trucks] from the Regent’s Slide repair site after strong winter storms impacted the Big Sur North Coast.”
It’s been estimated that 2 million travelers a year ply the highway going from Cambria to Carmel or the reverse. Having it closed for this long has forced those tourists to go over the hill to Hwy 101, bypassing what is arguably the best portions of the California Coast. It’s certainly hurt tourism in SLO County, particularly in Cambria, Cayucos and Morro Bay.
Other local politicians also welcomed the reopening. Dist. 15 State Sen. John Laird, who represents the area, said, “For three years, I’ve worked with local leaders, Caltrans, Governor Newsom’s Administration, business owners, and residents to secure resources, coordinate repairs, and keep Big Sur’s needs front and center.
“Highway 1 is more than a road,” he added, “it is a lifeline for families, small businesses, and visitors. The closure at Regent’s Slide created lasting hardship, cutting off access and threatening the region’s economic stability.”
Local Assemblywoman, Dawn Addis (D — Dist. 30) said, “The reopening of Regent marks an important step forward for the hundreds of families and workers in Big Sur and the millions of people who visit California every year. This turning point will help restore revenue, access to our state parks, support jobs, public safety, and economic stability for many of our residents.”
The Regent’s Slide repair job required use of cutting edge technologies. Innovations included:
• • Remote controlled heavy equipment. “Working with Caterpillar Inc., Caltrans deployed remotely operated bulldozers and excavators, controlled from a safe distance, allowing excavation to continue during periods of heightened geologic risk.”
• • Shear dowels: “Over 4,600 steel bars, up to 60-feet long, were drilled and grouted into the slopes in a 10-foot by 10-foot grid to tie layers of the hillside together and reduce the risk of future slides.”
• • Spider excavators: “Highly maneuverable smaller excavators were used in extremely steep terrain to remove material where conventional equipment could not operate.”
• • Real-time monitoring: Daily drone flights, ground surveying, and subsurface monitoring provided data on slope movement, allowing crews to work under safe conditions.”
Though initially bid out at $35 million by contractor Papich Const., (now part of Granite Const.) the job could possibly run to as much as $82 million, according to Caltrans, which is still writing checks for the continued work.
Working on Regent’s Slide was a moving target as new problems kept cropping up. After the initial 450-foot landslide, crews started scaling off loose dirt and rocks cutting back the hillside down to bedrock.
Early on another slide, the “Obvious Slide” started to open up above the top of the first slip out.
That forced them to move farther uphill and further cut back the hillside, and then a third, and much older slide, dubbed the Southern Slide, started to move adjacent to the original damaged area.
That forced them to move once again and start cutting out that loose soil.
During all this, they encountered a layer of blocky basalt granite that Caltrans said is inherently prone to sliding.
So what started out as a relatively narrow slide area had to be opened up considerably to address these additional slides.
And the future is a bit cloudy as well. During the recent holiday rainstorms, Regent’s Slide had a significant amount of mud flow down the steep slope and onto the roadway.
That forced an evacuation of the job site for a few days until the flows stopped and crews could go in and clean it up.
And winter isn’t over, despite spring-like temperatures through most of January. The area’s heaviest rainfall normally comes in late February and March, with occasional heavy rains coming as late as May. Indeed, the Mud Creek Slide in 2017 — the largest ever recorded in State history — happened after a fierce rainstorm on May 20.
