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A scenic stretch of Highway 1 near Big Sur that collapsed in a winter storm this week will cost millions of dollars to fix, and it’s unclear how long it will take before the pavement is fixed , officials said.
The freeway collapse happened about 15 miles south of Big Sur on Thursday, officials said.
Caltrans previously closed 40 miles of Highway 1 between Fullers Lookout and the San Luis Obispo county line after a winter storm threatened landslides near the Dolan Fire burn scar, officials said. Last fall’s wildfire burned more than 128,000 acres, destroying vegetation and weakening the soil.
“We wanted the closure in place in case evacuations became mandatory,” Caltrans spokesman Jim Shivers said. Evacuation orders were never issued for the part of the highway that collapsed, Shivers said.
Caltrans maintenance crews discovered the collapsed section of highway around 4 p.m. Thursday, Shivers said. Caltrans issued an emergency contract with Papich Construction, he said.
The company will work under the direction of Caltrans engineers to ensure the repair meets state standards, Shivers said. There is no timeline for the completion of the project.
The destruction is known as a landslide, a collapse that occurs when the ground on either side of the road is so saturated that nothing can hold it back, Shivers said.
Rainfall on the central coast has exceeded 15 inches this week, triggering mudslides that damaged at least 25 structures in the region, officials said.
Firefighters used earthmoving equipment Thursday to rescue a horse and pony from deep mud near the Sierra de Salinas mountain range on the northeast side of the River fire burn the scar. The wildfire burned more than 48,000 acres last fall. The ground there is unstable and, without vegetation to hold it in place, at an increased risk of debris flows and mudslides.
A winter storm stalled in the area Thursday before moving to southern California, causing moderate landslides in Orange County and hail on beaches in Los Angeles County.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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