Highway 1 at Rocky Creek fully reopens to both side of travel tonight

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) - Big Sur is buzzing again. Both lanes of travel will be fully reopened for drivers along Highway 1 at Rocky Creek starting at 8 p.m.

The news announced by Caltrans comes more than a year after a landslide caused the loss of a southbound section of roadway on March 30, 2024.

After the slide, drivers would only be able to get across through twice-a-day convoys for six weeks.
After more than a year of delays and detours, Highway 1 near Rocky Creek is fully reopened after a slipout caused closures for 15 months.

Local businesses are seeing signs of recovery just in time for the 4th of July holiday.

Packed parking lots and tables filled with people, a sight that business owner Kirk Gafil has not seen since before the Rocky Creek highway slip-out.

Now that both lanes of Highway 1 near Rocky Creek are open, Gafill hopes business is back for good.

"We'll certainly see the benefits of that as we go through the rest of the summer and going forward," said Gafill, owner of Nepenthe.

"We were actually just speaking to our waitress since she said that even though they look super busy today they actually have been down like 30 to 40 percent and so I know they are excited and just people that are coming up here are excited to be able to enjoy these beautiful views," said Heather Guillman, visiting from Arkansas.

After the slipout, drivers would access Big Sur through convoys and at times face full-on road closures.
An inconvenience to residents, workers, and tourists.

"With respect to our staff, just the thrill of being able to drive unimpeded without the stoplight down in Rocky Creek, coming to work, and then as guests are calling and inquiring about access to be able to say, yeah, the highway's wide open," said Gafill.

The road to repair wasn't easy -- costing 15.4 million dollars and taking 15 months to complete.

"They built a highway where none was there. There was just wide open space. They were able to engineer and design. A bridge structure, we call it a viaduct, that was able to span that empty space and first open up the southbound lanes and then later come back and reopen the northbound lanes for a completed viaduct structure," said Kevin Drabinski with Caltrans.

Now, the new viaduct wears a 2025 stamp, marking a fresh chapter for the historic highway.
"To see that reinforced with that quality of work with the sensitivity to it is really I think, helpful and certainly makes the drive all the more appealing," said Gafill.

However, the regents slide — still posing an issue to those down south like Russ and Kathleen from Santa Barbara.

They've been making annual trips since they started dating 45 years ago.

"We used to drive straight through four hours to get here from the south instead of four hours to get here or two or one day to get here, you know, a two-hour drive, it's now taking us two days to get there," said Russ Doherty.

Caltrans says that area will be closed throughout the summer.

Still, with 70% of Nepenthe's traffic coming from the north, Gafill is optimistic heading into the holiday weekend.

"There's no question it's you know during peak periods having the highway as accessible as possible just makes the experience a smoother one, a safer one, just a more enjoyable one," said Gafill.

Caltrans says they are happy to report that there were no injuries during this project…
A remarkable accomplishment considering the work was done without shoulder space and over a 170-foot drop to the ocean.

“Today’s reopening represents an engineering marvel and triumph in resilience for Big Sur residents, business owners, and their elected officials. The restoration of service along this famed transportation lifeline is a shared success and testament to their patience, hard wor,k and community spirit," said Caltrans District 5 Director Scott Eades.

The damaged seawall at Rocky Creek continues to be under repair with increased roadway resiliency via a restored barrier.