Highway 1 closed to Big Sur as ‘bomb cyclone’ arrives
Caltrans preemptively closed Highway 1 between Ragged Point and Big Sur on Wednesday evening as a powerful winter storm hit the Central Coast.
That segment of the scene road closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday, and there is no estimated time for reopening.
The road had opened for more than a day on Tuesday and Wednesday following rock slides caused by the New Year’s Eve storm, which allowed residents and businesses within that area to stock up and prepare for what the National Weather Service is calling a “bomb cyclone.”
According to Kevin Drabinski, Caltrans spokesman, officials have been monitoring the delicate stretch of highway all day.
“Crews are monitoring water and debris falling from above the roadway at a location named Polar Star, one mile south of Ragged Point,” Drabinski said in a news release. “Crews will continue to monitor this concern, and updates will be provided if the closure area needs to move south of Ragged Point.”
“Other than public safety agencies and emergency response teams,” he said, “no other vehicles are permitted to enter the closure area. Caltrans maintenance crews will perform daytime storm patrols within the closure as long as they judge that it is safe to do so. “
He added that during overnight hours, gates will be closed across the roadway within the closure area at the north and south end of Paul’s Slide (PM 22).
“The cooperation from the traveling public in staying out of the closure area will ensure that Caltrans maintenance teams can respond safely to address any emerging areas of concern,” Drabinski said. That way, “if called upon, emergency response and public safety teams will be able to travel unimpeded within the closure.”
Caltrans has done cautionary closures ahead of big storms since the winter of 2018-2019.
This time, officials anticipate that incoming heavy storm is apt to trigger more landslides, flooding, rockfalls and other incidents that could block the roadway and make the area unsafe for motorists and others.
“A severe atmospheric river event is expected,” Drabinski said Tuesday, and the forecast continues to call for “additional heavy weather for the upcoming weekend” and possibly beyond.
“Given the saturated conditions already in place, there is a strong possibility that the closure of Highway 1 scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday ... could be in place for an extended time,” he said.
On New Year’s Ever, rock slides closed a stretch of Highway 1 as a rain storm slammed into the Central Coast.
The approximately 44-mile stretch of scenic highway was closed from Ragged Point, located 2.1 miles south of the border between Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties, to 2.5 miles south of Big Sur in Monterey County for a few days.
The National Weather Service defines a bomb cyclone as an area of dramatically dropping atmospheric pressure, intensifying an incoming storm.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 5:28 PM with the headline "Highway 1 closed to Big Sur as ‘bomb cyclone’ arrives."
