Photo shows mud and rain runoff covering Hwy 1 at Regents Slide.
Despite some fairly heavy rainstorms over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Hwy 1 through Big Sur appears to have held up at the troublesome Regent’s Slide.
But Caltrans Dist. 5 in San Luis Obispo did have to deal with another significant rockslide, this one on Hwy 41 east of the Hwy 46 interchange that came tumbling down just before New Years.
In a Dec. 31 news release, Caltrans said, “Last week’s storms brought the first rainfall to the lower slope at Regent’s Slide. The mesh drapery performed its intended function by effectively slowing the movement of rock and debris down the slope. After the storm cleared, crews worked to remove debris from the roadway and focused on cleaning out the culverts in the area.
“In the coming days, crews will assess the impact of additional rain forecasted for later this week before resuming the final phase of the repair work.”
A large amount of rocks and mud slid Dec. 26 burying the westbound lane of Hwy 41. Photos courtesy Caltrans
Regent’s Slide is located north of Lucia and south of Big Sur. The slope above the roadway slipped in Feb. 9, 2024.
Heavy rains let loose a massive amount of debris that slid down the steep slope all the way to the ocean below, burying the roadway and closing the scenic Hwy 1 to through traffic.
The slide started 450-feet above the road and completely closed 6.8 miles of the highway. Caltrans has set a March 2026 target for the Regent’s Slide area to reopen to through traffic.
It wasn’t all good news however, on Jan. 7, Caltrans announced a bit of a setback for the Regent’s Slide project.
“A moderate rockslide south of Limekiln State Park closed access to Regent’s Slide on Tuesday, Jan. 6,” Caltrans said. “Crews have been unable to reach Regent’s Slide to assess the effects of last week’s rain events and to clean up mud a debris from below the slope.
The crews were expected to return to Regent’s Slide “in a few days to resume final repairs pending clearing of the rockslide.” That slide was apparently minor enough to not be given a name.
This past Dec. 29, again during a heavy rainstorm, a portion of the hillside above Hwy 41 near the SLO-Kern County border slid burying the westbound traffic lane.
Caltrans posted information on this slide on its X account. “Highway 41 is closed in both directions between the junction of Highway 46 and Hwy 33 due to a rockslide. A detour is available using Hwy 46 and Hwy 33, which would add one half hour of travel time. Crews are on site making repair assessments. No estimated time for reopening.”
It took just a couple of days to get the road cleared and reopened in both directions. But the slide hasn’t been “fixed” yet.
“Crews installed concrete barriers topped with protective fencing and restriped road. Slope work to continue behind barriers over next month as weather permits,” Caltrans posted. The road reopened about 7:15 p.m. Dec. 31.
The location was just east of where Hwy 41 starts to climb into the coastal mountains on its way to the Central Valley, coming out again west of Kettleman City.
The route, which winds through the mountains, is traveled by thousands of vehicles daily. Caltrans Dist. 5 also dealt with several issues on Hwy 101 especially in the Goleta Area and on Hwy 1 north of SLO County, which saw runoff wash onto and pool on the roadways. There was also a landslide in the Goleta Pass area that caused problems for the State.
And the Regent’s Slide area saw significant mud and standing water pooling on the roadway.
Locally, the rains haven’t given too many problems to the fire department and public works in Morro Bay. The Fire Department said they recorded 2.72-inches of rain from Dec. 25-31; and since Jan. 1 they’ve recorded 1.36”. Rain total for calendar year 2025 was 15.88”, which is about average for Morro Bay.
Countywide, the County Office of Emergency Services (County OES) issued a series of flood and high surf warnings they’d received from the National Weather Service from Dec. 26 through Jan. 4. But they didn’t report any significant flooding problems on the website, www.readyslo.org.
If readers want to keep up with the fluid situation on the local highways, see: dot.ca.gov/caltrans-near-me/district-5 for current road conditions in SLO, Santa Barbara, San Benito, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties.
