Crews working to clear winter storm mudslides in Big Sur

UPDATE 05/15 6:03 p.m.: More road repairs got underway Monday on Highway 1. The area is currently closed due to construction on the new Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge. For the next few weeks, Caltrans will be cleaning up a mudslide just a mile north of the bridge.

“It’s what we call a perched landslide. So it’s still up there, hanging there. And so if (we are) not taking care of (it) now, it will come down next winter for sure,” Caltrans engineer Steve Balaban said.

The slide is 150 feet tall and 130 feet wide. Crews are expected to take out 300 truckloads of dirt. Caltrans accessed the terrain to prepare for more work ahead.

“We start at the very top, and we will kind of shave the mountain,” Balaban said. “And then we will bring all the loose material that’s already mobilized once. We will actually cut it and cascade it down the face of the slope.”

After taking out rocks and trees, there will be netting installation to prevent more dirt from falling. And soon, the barren patch will be green again.

“The netting will actually encourage revegetation. So it may take a season or two, but eventually the native grass will come back up and the netting will become invisible,” Balaban said.

Local businesses said Caltrans has kept them in the loop every step of the way.

“As soon as they could get the road to the north open, they did. And they communicate with us all every day,” said Diana Ballantyne, with Fernwood Resort. “They’ve been doing a great job of communicating and working as fast as they can. There were a lot of issues to take care of.”

And some visitors are just happy to see at least a part of Big Sur.

“It’s nature. So what can you do? They road is closed; they are repairing it; they have to work. That’s fine,” French visitor Jerome Godefroy said.

There will be one way traffic control as crews begin working here, but Caltrans said slide removal will not delay the construction at Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge.

PREVIOUS STORY: Caltrans is taking advantage of the Highway 1 closure north of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge to clean up mudslides caused by winter storms.

For the next few weeks, crews will be putting guard rails along the slide and use a spider excavator to take out loose soil and overhanging trees.

The slide being worked on this week is 150 feet tall and 130 feet wide. Crews are expected to remove 300 truck loads of soil.

Caltrans said the work will not affect construction of the new Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, which is about a mile south of the slide.

KION’s Linda Zhang will have more on this story Monday night.