UPDATED: Highway 1 in Big Sur shutting down for one night near Paul's Slide for repair work.

UPDATE: Work crews were able to complete all repairs to a retaining wall at Paul's Slide along Highway 1 in a single night, Caltrans announced Oct. 29. The road will be open Monday night.

Gravity always wins, a fact of life that has always plagued Highway 1 in Big Sur since it was completed in 1937. The stretch has been closed more than 100 times due to rock slides and mud slides, according to Caltrans.

The winter storms of 2017 were particularly brutal for Big Sur, leading to the closure and destruction of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge to the north and slides to the south—including in the area known as Paul's Slide—which left residents stranded on a virtual island.

Then in May 2017, 2.5 million cubic tons of dirt cascaded onto the highway near Mud Creek, with another 2.3 million cubic yards careening into the sea below in a historic slide.

Caltrans worked feverishly for more than a year to rebuild the bridge, which opened a year ago in October, and to successfully reopen the highway at Mud Creek in July of this year. 

The highway is set to close down yet again, this time for emergency repairs of a retaining wall at Paul's Slide.

The highway will be shut down two nights in a row this coming Sunday, Oct. 28, and Monday, Oct. 29. No traffic will be allowed to pass in either direction from 10pm to 6am. Emergency vehicles will be allowed to pass, however.

Caltrans officials expect all work will be completed by Tuesday morning.

Editor's Note: This post was updated on Oct. 29 with new information from Caltrans.