Traverse the Big Sur coast and you’ll find yourself wondering how a highway came to exist in such a precarious, spectacular location – this is never more the case than when the literal cracks start to show. Last winter wasn’t easy on Highway 1, and the months since have been characterized by myriad repair projects from Garrapata to Gorda.
The biggest ongoing project is at Paul’s Slide – the same tricky piece of earth at mile marker 22 that slid in May 2017. The area has gates at both its northern and southern ends, which have been closed since Jan. 8, 2023. Seven months and $24.4 million in repairs later, there is no estimate for reopening. (The $24.4 million figure accounts for several repairs through Aug. 6 between mile markers 20.9 and 42.2 that are all part of the same Caltrans contract with Papich Construction; work on Paul’s Slide specifically began in April.)
The lack of a reopening timeline is not to say it is not an active project. “Our engineer team reports the contractor is starting fill work at the south end and completing a cut slope at the north end,” Caltrans spokesperson Jim Shivers writes via email. But the land is still moving – “We have suspended work (slide removal) in areas where earth movement has been detected.”
It’s not just would-be roadtrippers that this extended closure impacts – the slide divides Big Sur’s South Coast (now only accessible from the south) from its northern reaches (only accessible from the north). Drivers going either direction are now diverted inland to alternate north-south roads, such as Highway 101. This leaves an economic mark – Kirk Gafill, Big Sur Chamber of Commerce president and general manager at Nepenthe, says the closure has meant a roughly 30 – to 35-percent reduction in guest traffic to Big Sur businesses, a figure that’s consistent with similar Highway 1 closures over the past 40 years.