Good news for Big Sur residents with new Pfeiffer Access Footpath Trail
Construction of the roughly half-mile Pfeiffer Canyon Access Footpath Trail wrapped up over the weekend. The path is the only way for Big Sur residents to get across Pfeiffer Canyon after the bridge was demolished when it was damaged beyond repair from winter storms.
Without the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, life in Big Sur is quite different for long longtime resident Heather Chappellet-Lanier.
“It takes a little bit more time to do everything,” said Lanier. “Hiking home with groceries in your backpack is a bit of a hard thing to do at the end of the day.”
The bridge was finally demolished last week after county officials said it wasn’t safe following winter storms. That means the trail is the only reasonable way for people on the southern side to get to the northern side and vice-versa.
“This path is vital for everyone is our community to be able to resume their life, for the school children to go back to school, for people to be able to get between their home and their work,” said Lanier.
County and state officials, along with many volunteers, started working on the path after the bridge was closed. The new trail connects to an another already existing path at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.
At a meeting Monday, California State Parks representative said they’ve made tremendous progress on the trail and it will start opening it in phases.
“We are looking forward to opening it for limited access for students and residents and potentially workers in the local area,” said John DeLuca a California State Parks representative.
Getting the path up to par hasn’t been easy. Crews saw delays because of the weather but the trail will now be open for limited access for residents with a waiver a half-hour before sunrise and half hour-hour after sunset.
“We’re excited. It’s been a great community effort,” said DeLuca. “State Parks partnering with the community and providing an access point for people who are trapped behind a failed bridge and closed highways to the south.”
The closure of the bridge has really hurt businesses in the area but in some good news Highway 1 from the north is open. And even though you get turned around at the bridge, Lanier is finding a silver lining.
“Everybody has come together as a community to support one another and there is a lot of camaraderie,” said Lanier. “When life slows down you get to pay better attention to the people that you live closest to and that’s quite wonderful.”
