California's Slow Walk of Repairing Highway 1 In Big Sur

[brad2971]

https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2025/05/04/big-sur-still-closed-highway-1-n2412338

One of the tweets quoted made the statement that "Highway 1 in Big Sur has been closed for 838 days. In that time China has built 3500 miles of high speed rail, and California hasn't been able to fix a quarter mile of highway."

Frankly, China would have done either one of two things. They would have either abandoned their version of Big Sure and forced the residents to leave, or they would have gone on a Yuan-no-object binge and destroyed half the mountain in order to reopen their version of Hwy 1. Which, BTW, would have taken MUCH longer than the 2 or so years it's taken Caltrans District 5 to finish opening up Hwy 1. Yes, Caltrans can be slow quite often, but emulating China...eh.

[Max Rockatansky]

Having just scanned the article I got a laugh at the Florida versus California comparison.  Florida does one thing best, somehow being flatter than Illinois.  What a steaming heap of shit that article was.

FWIW when the Mud Creek Slide repairs were going on I had the time of my life circa 2017-2018 in the Big Sur area.  All the tourists were put off by not having a thru-route and would often not go past the usual landmarks like the Bixby Bridge or Ragged Point..  I definitely got my fill of coastal trails in that year.  Now that the Nacimiento-Furgusson Road is back open I'd really recommend a visit to anyone here who has inclinations towards partaking in outdoor activities.

[brad2971]

Look, I get why people of a certain ideological bent bash California. But I wonder what these folks would have to say about Arizona DOT taking at least 5 years to do interim fixes on SR 88.

https://azdot.gov/projects/southeast-district-projects/state-route-88-apache-trail/sr-88-interim-project

[Max Rockatansky]

As much as I like AZ 88 it doesn't carry the same normal person cultural panache that CA 1/Cabrillo Highway does in Big Sur.  Most normals have never heard of Apache Trail.

[Quillz]

It's almost as if the reason it's taking a long time is because it's a very seismically unstable area, and a quick fix is only going to ensure the road gets damaged again and stays closed again for a long time. A lot of people around here were complaining how long it took to repair the Reseda Blvd. interchange with CA-118, because not a single one bothered to actually study why it was taking so long (sinkholes, for one thing).

A lot of these articles seem to be written by people who don't understand much about the area, or its history. It's not like we just flipped a switch one day and the road closed. CA-1 through Big Sur has had long periods of time when it's been closed for various reasons. Happened in the 90s, the 80s, etc.

Had Caltrans sped up the process and opened it, then the articles would be "CA-1 FAILED AGAIN, WHY CAN'T CALTRANS TAKE THEIR TIME AND GET IT RIGHT?"

Perhaps it's instant gratification going too far. Sometimes things take time. CA-1 will reopen, we have to be patient.

[Quillz]

Look, I get why people of a certain ideological bent bash California. But I wonder what these folks would have to say about Arizona DOT taking at least 5 years to do interim fixes on SR 88.

https://azdot.gov/projects/southeast-district-projects/state-route-88-apache-trail/sr-88-interim-project

Without getting overly political, when it occurs in a red state, it usually breaks down to "yeah, well it's the CITY screwing up!"

Some people I know who live in Texas are like this. Since the state and their political affiliation are the same, they will never criticize the state, always the city. I can't imagine why that might be.

[jdbx]

It's almost as if the reason it's taking a long time is because it's a very seismically unstable area, and a quick fix is only going to ensure the road gets damaged again and stays closed again for a long time. A lot of people around here were complaining how long it took to repair the Reseda Blvd. interchange with CA-118, because not a single one bothered to actually study why it was taking so long (sinkholes, for one thing).

A lot of these articles seem to be written by people who don't understand much about the area, or its history. It's not like we just flipped a switch one day and the road closed. CA-1 through Big Sur has had long periods of time when it's been closed for various reasons. Happened in the 90s, the 80s, etc.

Had Caltrans sped up the process and opened it, then the articles would be "CA-1 FAILED AGAIN, WHY CAN'T CALTRANS TAKE THEIR TIME AND GET IT RIGHT?"

I recently read a book that touches on this very phenomena "The Death of Expertise" by Tom Nichols. It essentially touches on the argument that it's increasingly common for people to completely disregard expertise and credentials in favor of "feelings" or something you heard that happens to agree with previous biases.

You see it in the comments section on social media around any sort of road or highway project, where people seem to think that building a road should be as simple as drawing a line on a map, taking a day to clear a path with a bulldozer, and then just start laying asphalt. Nobody wants to listen to reason, and nobody considers inconvenient facts of second-order effects.

Of course, if CalTrans did somehow do a "rush job" and got the road opened ASAP without going through all of the necessary design and engineering, when the slope inevitably failed the next winter, the same people would be complaining about the rushed work and why didn't CalTrans take the time to do it right.

You can't reason with unreasonable people, and you can't sway people with logic when logic was never how they arrived at their opinions in the first place.

[FredAkbar]

You see it in the comments section on social media around any sort of road or highway project, where people seem to think that building a road should be as simple as drawing a line on a map, taking a day to clear a path with a bulldozer, and then just start laying asphalt. Nobody wants to listen to reason, and nobody considers inconvenient facts of second-order effects.

If it really takes 2 years of engineering then so be it. But people may just be assuming that it's going slowly for non-engineering reasons. And can you really blame them? Many projects in California get bogged down or delayed by years of environmental review and other red tape. Just look at CAHSR.

Even if the duration of the work is legitimate in this case, the commenters in this thread criticizing others for being skeptical are assuming California has a benefit of the doubt that it has long since lost any right to.

[Max Rockatansky]

You see it in the comments section on social media around any sort of road or highway project, where people seem to think that building a road should be as simple as drawing a line on a map, taking a day to clear a path with a bulldozer, and then just start laying asphalt. Nobody wants to listen to reason, and nobody considers inconvenient facts of second-order effects.

If it really takes 2 years of engineering then so be it. But people may just be assuming that it's going slowly for non-engineering reasons. And can you really blame them? Many projects in California get bogged down or delayed by years of environmental review and other red tape. Just look at CAHSR.

Even if the duration of the work is legitimate in this case, the commenters in this thread criticizing others for being skeptical are assuming California has a benefit of the doubt that it has long since lost any right to.

If anything, my own comments were intended to be vague on how I really feel about the highway being closed to through traffic.  My thought is the state is tired of trying to maintain CA 1 in Big Sur and is doing whatever they can to drag out the process of maintenance.  The concern I see is that someone at Caltrans might get the idea in their head that CA 1 should be permanently closed in Big Sur if a particular set of circumstance arises.  The reason a permanent closure hasn't happened is probably due to the popularity of the highway as a driver of tourism.  I'm not buying the narrative that this highway should be treated by the same standards as expressways or freeways.  It is an older corridor located in hostile terrain that was intended to be scenic and to that end is always going to require constant effort to keep open. 

That said, I'll stand by what I said already in this thread.  If you want CA 1 in Big Sur to yourself and everything associated with it, now is the time to visit.

[ElishaGOtis]

Didn't one of the slides keep moving after they were about to begin construction, thus requiring the use of robots to resume work?

The concern I see is that someone at Caltrans might get the idea in their head that CA 1 should be permanently closed in Big Sur if a particular set of circumstance arises.  The reason a permanent closure hasn't happened is probably due to the popularity of the highway as a driver of tourism.  I'm not buying the narrative that this highway should be treated by the same standards as expressways or freeways.  It is an older corridor located in hostile terrain that was intended to be scenic and to that end is always going to require constant effort to keep open. 

That said, I'll stand by what I said already in this thread.  If you want CA 1 in Big Sur to yourself and everything associated with it, now is the time to visit.

Why shouldn't it be permanently closed? Yes it's a tourism draw, but so are other parts of PCH. It would be cheaper to completely demolish and replace every major bridge in the Bay Area than it would be to keep rebuilding PCH.

And for those wondering, I'm on the side of continuing to rebuild PCH. The beauty of the corridor is just as important as keeping any other piece of infrastructure. It will cost tens of billions, but it's essential to the economy IMHO. Tolls, maybe?

[Max Rockatansky]

Didn't one of the slides keep moving after they were about to begin construction, thus requiring the use of robots to resume work?

The concern I see is that someone at Caltrans might get the idea in their head that CA 1 should be permanently closed in Big Sur if a particular set of circumstance arises.  The reason a permanent closure hasn't happened is probably due to the popularity of the highway as a driver of tourism.  I'm not buying the narrative that this highway should be treated by the same standards as expressways or freeways.  It is an older corridor located in hostile terrain that was intended to be scenic and to that end is always going to require constant effort to keep open. 

That said, I'll stand by what I said already in this thread.  If you want CA 1 in Big Sur to yourself and everything associated with it, now is the time to visit.

Why shouldn't it be permanently closed? Yes it's a tourism draw, but so are other parts of PCH. It would be cheaper to completely demolish and replace every major bridge in the Bay Area than it would be to keep rebuilding PCH.

And for those wondering, I'm on the side of continuing to rebuild PCH. The beauty of the corridor is just as important as keeping any other piece of infrastructure. It will cost tens of billions, but it's essential to the economy IMHO. Tolls, maybe?

FWIW, the segment in Big Sur is Cabrillo Highway and not PCH. 

Caltrans probably would try to close CA 1 if they didn't have an obligation to service the communities in Big Sur.  The agency has been trying to shed non-limited access to mileage for decades.  More so, the attitude towards maintaining conventional highways at a conventional standard has changed.  In the past similar slides would be repaired quickly with temporary measures.  Caltrans seems less willing to take interim measures like the Division of Highways once did. 

A long time ago CA 1 through Big Sur was closed as a through route during winter.  I don't think that would be acceptable by modern expectations but it does speak to how hostile the area can be during the wet season. 

Tolls wouldn't be popular but people would still pay to use CA 1.  I suspect Caltrans isn't too interested in the political backlash of such a proposal.  Pretty much any new toll proposal or even suggestion of VMT gets met with fierce public resistance.  I'm not against the idea of a toll myself.

[SeriesE]

Is Caltrans investigating an inland tunnel reroute for this section like the Devil's Slide section near Pacifica?

[Max Rockatansky]

Is Caltrans investigating an inland tunnel reroute for this section like the Devil's Slide section near Pacifica?

No

[Scott5114]

Yes, Caltrans can be slow quite often, but emulating China...eh.

Many projects in California get bogged down or delayed by years of environmental review and other red tape. Just look at CAHSR.

In California, the government is required to listen to the people affected by a project and give due consideration to their opinions in deciding how to proceed. Sometimes that takes the form of a public meeting, in others it takes the form of a lawsuit trying to stop or force changes to the project.

I may be wrong, but I'm of the impression that in China, the government has no such obligation; they build what they want to build, and if you don't like it, your options are shut up or go to jail. It makes the projects go a lot faster, but I think I'd rather have the red tape.