A scenic stretch of Highway 1 near Big Sur that collapsed due to a winter storm this week will cost millions of dollars to repair and it is unclear how long it will take for the road to be repaired, officials said.
The highway collapsed Thursday about 15 miles south of Big Sur, officials said.
Caltrans previously closed 40 miles from Highway 1 between Fullers Lookout and the San Luis Obispo County line after a winter storm threatened landslides near Dolan Fire’s burn scar, officials said. The forest fire last fall burned more than 128,000 acres, destroying vegetation and causing the soil to weaken.
“We wanted to have the closure in place if evacuations were to become mandatory,” said Caltrans spokesman Jim Shivers. Evacuation orders were never issued for the part of the highway that collapsed, said Shivers.
Caltrans maintenance crews discovered the stretch of highway that was destroyed at around 4 pm Thursday, Shivers said. Caltrans issued an emergency contract for Papich Construction, he said.
The company will work with Caltrans engineers to ensure that the repair meets state standards, said Shivers. There is no timetable for completing the project.
The destruction is known as slipping, a collapse that occurs when the soil on either side of the road is so saturated that nothing can hold it back, said Shivers.
Rainfall on the central coast reached 15 inches this week, causing mud flows that damaged at least 25 structures in the area, officials said.
Firefighters used earthmoving equipment on Thursday to rescue a horse and pony from the deep mud near the Sierra de Salinas mountain range on the northeast side of the River fire burn scar. The fire burned more than 48,000 acres last fall. The soil over there it’s unstable and, without vegetation to keep it in place, it increases the risk of debris flows and landslides.
A winter storm stopped in the region on Thursday before moving to southern California, bringing moderate landslides to Orange County and hail to the beaches of Los Angeles County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.