You can soon take that Big Sur road trip. Bravo, Caltrans!

Let’s hear it for the engineers.

While we’re at it, congratulations to the geologists, the surveyors, the heavy equipment operators, the laborers, the inspectors and all the other workers — both from Caltrans and Papich Construction Co. out of Arroyo Grande — who had a hand in making a rapid repair along one of the most iconic stretches of highway on the West Coast.

We’re talking, of course, about the 85 miles of Highway 1 between San Simeon and Carmel, one of the most incredibly stunning — and vulnerable — roadways in the state.

The rugged, two-lane highway has been closed since late January, when a chunk of highway at Rat Creek washed out in a heavy rain storm after debris from a wildfire clogged a culvert.

Only five miles of highway have been closed, but that’s made it impossible for travelers to drive the entire stretch — an inconvenience for locals, a further hardship for businesses already struggling due to COVID-19, and a huge disappointment for tourists, including some who come from far away to make the trek.

The highway is scheduled to reopen on April 23, a week ahead of the most recent estimate and two months earlier than the original target date.

Call us cynical, but we’ve gotten so accustomed to public works projects that drag on and on, we wondered if the repair would even be finished this year — especially after seeing dramatic photographs of the yawning gap in the highway.

Then there’s history to consider; past slides have closed the highway for long stretches of time, including 13 months in 1983.

Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski credited this quick turnaround of less than three months to good weather, along with a seven-day-a-week work schedule.

He gave lots of props to Papich Construction. The company had as many as five excavators going at the same time in “what looked like a ballet,” Drabinski described.

Locals, meanwhile, tipped their hats to Caltrans.

“Caltrans did such an excellent job,” said Mel McColloch, president of the Cambria Chamber of Commerce board, “everybody ought to give them a thank you.”

The job included removing approximately 70,000 cubic yards of trees, boulders and other debris that washed down the hillside, and bringing in fill dirt from a site four miles away as a base for the roadbed.

The repair, estimated at $11.5 million, included installation of two new culverts to prevent water from backing up at that same location and washing out the highway again.

“We want this fix to be the 100-year fix,” Drabinski said.

There will be a brief reopening ceremony at 11 a.m. on Friday, after which cars once again will be able to cross Rat Creek and complete all 85 glorious miles of the Big Sur road trip.

There may be some intermittent delays; Caltrans still has some work to do, including landscaping and installing permanent guardrails.

That’s a minor inconvenience compared to the payoff of seeing some of the most spectacular scenery on the California coast.

If a Big Sur road trip is on your summer to-do list, we wish you a safe — and happy — journey.

This story was originally published April 20, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "You can soon take that Big Sur road trip. Bravo, Caltrans!."