After caving under pressure from a massive winter storm, a portion of Big Sur’s scenic Highway 1 fell into the ocean.
An emergency contractor responded to the scene with California Department of Transportation engineers assessing the extent of the damage, said agency spokesman Jim Shivers. Caltrans captured some of the damage in a video on Friday.
Check out this amazing drone video of #Hwy1 washout at Rat Creek about 15 miles south of #BigSur. Our crews are on site securing it, assessing damage & starting clean-up/ repairs. Reminder: the road is OPEN from #Carmel thru town of Big Sur. @bigsurkate @BigSurCC @CHP_Coastal pic.twitter.com/rB193DzXhL
— Caltrans District 5 (@CaltransD5) January 29, 2021
The incident, which is called a “slip-out,” is a fairly common occurrence in the region, Shivers said.
“Anyone familiar with the history of Highway 1 knows that once we get into the rain season, slides of various degrees, slip-outs, rock slides is what we face and what we know will happen,” he said.
The road damage could cost millions of dollars to repair and force the road to remain closed for an unknown amount of time.
