After years of complaints, Caltrans is finally addressing congestion at Bixby Bridge.

Since the dawn of social media, Big Sur, if it wasn’t already, has become a bucket-list destination for tourists the world over.

And among the destinations within Big Sur, there is none more iconic than the Bixby Creek Bridge. If you don’t have a picture of yourself next to Bixby Bridge, were you really even there?

With that popularity has come a perpetual cluster around the bridge’s northern end, where cars park chaotically, often double parking and sometimes even parking on the highway so drivers and passengers can get out of their car and get a photo.

For years it has been maddening to locals, and just how to prevent the backup has remained a vexing question. Caltrans launched a pilot project at the Bixby turnout, and on Feb. 22 installed 25 “delineators” – which are soft posts, and which can be driven over – at the turnout. They mean, per state highway code, those who stop must park parallel.

Bixby is the first location along the coast where this approach has been attempted, and Caltrans spokesperson Kevin Drabinski writes by email that Caltrans crews – aside from monitoring the state of delineators themselves (10 have been replaced as of March 6) – will be assessing its overall effectiveness in improving traffic flow.

As of now, it’s the only plan Caltrans has got, as Drabinski writes, “The space is limited which makes it challenging to find a permanent solution.” Though he adds that observations by Caltrans crews “indicated the partial success of the installation almost immediately,” and that vehicles were “largely adhering to the parameters of the delineators.”

Butch Kronlund, executive director of the Community Association of Big Sur, isn’t sure if it will help solve the problem, but says, “I’m a fan of doing something.” He adds, “[Caltrans is] recognizing there’s a problem and taking some kind of step to address it. Is it the right answer? I don’t know, but it is some kind of answer.”

County Planning Commissioner Martha Diehl, who lives near the Bixby turnout, is likewise happy Caltrans is taking “substantive” action. “I applaud their experiment,” she says, adding that she hopes going forward there is a more holistic, collaborative approach that involves county public works, which manages the Coast Road entrance just across the street that regularly fills up with cars parked illegally.

“I don’t think it’s a long-term solution, but for the interim, it’s fabulous,” Diehl says.