Highway 1 at Rat Creek reopens after mudslide repairs
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION) Highway 1 south of Big Sur has reopened to drivers after repairs.
The section of the road was washed out during a mudslide in January but reopened Friday ahead of schedule.
John Davis was one of the workers first on the scene when the road washed away. He’s been working seven days a week from 13 to 14 hours a day. He’s very proud to be part of the crew who helped get Highway 1 back up and running.
“It's great to have it open again,” said Davis. “We will be up here doing repairs probably until June. So, it's not over yet for us. But, at least we're gonna get a couple of days off before Monday, about to go to sleep all weekend.”
Caltrans official, Kevin Dranbinski said that many of the construction projects take six years to plan, fund, and then build. But, in this case, the emergency funds from the state allowed the reconstruction of Highway 1 to be expedited.
"When I arrived here right after the road was closed you couldn't imagine at that time how it would ever get cleared out of the debris,” said Drabinski. “We ended up taking 70,000 cubic yards of debris out. We decided on the enhanced fill design, introducing 40,000 cubic yards of fill into the roadway."
Governor Gavin Newsom said, there is no other road like this in the world. The project is estimated to have cost more than 15-million dollars. He is happy to know that they repaired the section within the budget, he said. According to Newsom, the state invested the money to address the cause of the collapse, and to prevent it from happening again. They focused on modernizing infrastructure, engineering strategies, and design.
“We are truly blessed by this coast of dreams,” said Newsom. “Today, we're blessed to be back and to see this iconic highway up and operational and back on its feet, just as this state is getting back on its feet."
Caltrans warns that road work will continue at the site, but drivers will be able to pass through the area.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Congressman Jimmy Panetta, Assemblymember Robert Rivas, and Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin attended the reopening ceremony earlier in the day.
