Highway 1 closure has cost Big Sur region $438 million, a new study finds.

A few days after Caltrans announced its highly anticipated reopening timeline for Highway 1 in Big Sur, which has been closed for nearly 1,000 days due to overlapping slides, new research was released that shed light on the economic impacts felt by neighboring communities. 

The study, conducted by Beacon Economics—an independent economic research firm based in California—estimated the region lost $13 to $14 million in visitor spending each month since the closure began 32 months ago, putting total losses at $438 million through September 2025. 

The subregions found to have been hit hardest are the two closest to the slide—and therefore the most remote with the fewest alternative road connections: San Simeon and Big Sur, with visitor spending down 42% and 20%, respectively.

Tourists spent roughly $27 million in San Simeon in 2022, before the road closed and after bouncing back from the pandemic. Had the road remained open, the study states, this number was expected to rise slightly to $29 million. Instead, nature buried the highway under half a million cubic yards of debris, and tourist spending dropped to $17 million in both 2023 and 2024.

The study draws from raw administrative data rather than surveys, analyzing a mix of detailed sales tax data broken down by industry, payroll employment data from the California Employment Development Department, and transient occupancy tax (TOT) from government budgets, among other sources.

It examined both direct impacts—such as lodging, dining and transportation purchases—and secondary impacts, which capture economic impacts across a range of industries, including supply chain disruptions and spending by workers in affected sectors. Secondary impacts accounted for about 14 percent of the total economic loss: $21 million in 2023 and $23 million in 2024.

“On behalf of California’s tourism industry, we extend our sincere appreciation to Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin and Caltrans, for their herculean efforts to restore Highway 1 and keeping the affected businesses and residents top of mind as they navigated this complex series of repairs,” Visit California President & CEO Caroline Beteta said. “Once this six-mile stretch is reopened, road trippers will once again enjoy uninterrupted coastal travel between Dana Point and Leggett—something that hasn’t been possible in more than two years.”