For years, locals have raised concerns over the growing traffic bottleneck on Highway 1 at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. Dubbed “the crown jewel of the California State Park system,” the reserve now sees more than 500,000 visitors annually, 85-percent over the 270,000 annual capacity identified in the 1979 General Plan.
“From about 10am to 2pm we’re seeing a large increase of people mostly parking along the highway and walking in, [sometimes] getting up into 4,000 to 5,000 people a day,” says John Hiles, manager of the Monterey Sector of State Parks. “It’s overwhelming the reserve.”
Plans for the ParkIT! shuttle, a community-based initiative launched in 2018 to reduce congestion along the Highway 1 corridor from Carmel to Big Sur, are finally taking a step forward.
On Monday, Aug. 3, the Carmel Highlands and Carmel Valley Land Use Advisory Committees voted to advance the proposed project to the County Planning Commission. The project proposal from State Parks includes utilizing the Marathon Flats parking lot at Rio Road as a 100-space park-and-shuttle location, transporting visitors into Point Lobos State Reserve approximately every 15 minutes. The plan also proposes a reservation system to manage shuttle riders and parking at both Marathon Flats and within the park.
“What we’re seeing, especially in seasons like this, are steep spikes of visitation,” Hiles says. “One of our goals with the reservation system is to be able to manage that use and spread it out throughout the day or the week.”
At the Carmel Valley LUAC meeting, the majority of roughly a dozen locals who spoke expressed support for the shuttle system, arguing it represents a critical step toward improving safety and accessibility in the area. Opponents of the proposal questioned the location of the parking lot in a 100-year floodplain, and others raised concerns about the traffic analysis.
One Carmel Highlands resident, Sara Stone, shared stories of neighbors whose vehicles had been side-swiped by drivers making U-turns along the busy highway. She also told a story of a neighbor whose husband died of a heart attack, and wondered if his life might have been saved if an ambulance hadn’t been delayed by traffic congestion.
“You’ve got gridlock going both northbound and southbound,” Stone said. “He may have passed away anyway, but the point is we’ll never know. That’s in our head, and I don’t want that happening to any family member I have, or any neighbor.”