The Santa Lucia Mountains are deceptively rugged. Between Carmel Valley Road to the north and Highway 46 to the south, in San Luis Obispo County, there is just one east-west paved road that connects the coast to the Highway 101 corridor. That artery, Nacimiento-Fergusson Road, reopened on Friday, Nov. 15 for the first time since January 2021.
The U.S. Forest Service first closed the road on the west side, at Highway 1, after the Dolan Fire left the area particularly susceptible to damage from the atmospheric rivers that followed, dumping rain and leading to erosion. As construction inched along, more weather was in store for the east side, which was closed in January 2023.
Now, $12 million later, the road has reopened in full, although dirt roads maintained by the Forest Service in the vicinity – including South Coast Ridge Road and Plaskett Ridge Road – remain closed.
The major improvements are mechanically stabilized earth walls, new and upsized culverts, and surface contouring to ensure water is directed off the road, Forest Service spokesperson Andrew Madsen says. “Hopefully this will harden the road to withstand inclement weather in the future,” he adds.
And that matters, especially given that the reopening came just five days before an atmospheric river was in the forecast to hit the area on Nov. 20.
As for a ranger station at the summit that was destroyed in the Dolan Fire in 2020, and left firefighters fighting for their lives, it remains an active hazmat site with ongoing cleanup. “We continue to explore options working with local partners on a suitable location to maintain our historic fire response in this area,” Madsen says.