BIG SUR, Calif. — Workers dangle from a crane, drilling into the vertical face of rock that holds up one of the most famous and picturesque stretches of road in the world. They’re performing a delicate surgery on fragile geology in hopes that a single lane of traffic can safely flow to Big Sur before summer arrives.
On this day, it had been nearly a month since a rockslide severed Highway 1, California’s beloved road-trip destination.
Across this stretch of the Central Coast, landslides have repeatedly buried the highway’s undulating curves or sent pavement tumbling into the Pacific Ocean. They bring a steady drumbeat of road blockages, tourism disruptions and stranded communities. Now, some fear the landslides are getting worse, due to climate change and engineering missteps throughout the roadway’s 86-year life span.
It was always a risky proposition to maintain a highway at the very edge of a continent. But now Big Sur is facing wetter storms that infiltrate and weaken cracked and porous rock. Wildfires leave behind extra debris for those floodwaters to carry downhill. Pounding waves from stronger storms and rising seas eat away at cliffs from beneath.
“Everything is working against Highway 1,” said Gary Griggs, an oceanography professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
The latest slip-out, known as the Rocky Creek slide, exemplifies the complexity of the problem. It stranded 1,500 people at the end of March as workers were making slow progress addressing three other slides. California’s transportation agency — known as CalTrans — estimates it will take more than $100 million to fix them all — if new slides don’t come first.
California is a national leader in confronting climate change, but making Highway 1 sustainable may be a challenge it cannot surmount. Despite spending a billion dollars a year to fix damage that climate-related stressors inflict on its roadways — plus $100 million in projects to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change **—** the state is struggling to fortify one of its most prized landmarks.
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BIG SUR, Calif. — Workers dangle from a crane, drilling into the vertical face of rock that holds up one of the most famous and picturesque stretches of road in the world. They’re performing a delicate surgery on fragile geology in hopes that a single lane of traffic can safely flow to Big Sur before summer arrives.
On this day, it had been nearly a month since a rockslide severed Highway 1, California’s beloved road-trip destination.
Across this stretch of the Central Coast, landslides have repeatedly buried the highway’s undulating curves or sent pavement tumbling into the Pacific Ocean. They bring a steady drumbeat of road blockages, tourism disruptions and stranded communities. Now, some fear the landslides are getting worse, due to climate change and engineering missteps throughout the roadway’s 86-year life span.
It was always a risky proposition to maintain a highway at the very edge of a continent. But now Big Sur is facing wetter storms that infiltrate and weaken cracked and porous rock. Wildfires leave behind extra debris for those floodwaters to carry downhill. Pounding waves from stronger storms and rising seas eat away at cliffs from beneath.
“Everything is working against Highway 1,” said Gary Griggs, an oceanography professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.
The latest slip-out, known as the Rocky Creek slide, exemplifies the complexity of the problem. It stranded 1,500 people at the end of March as workers were making slow progress addressing three other slides. California’s transportation agency — known as CalTrans — estimates it will take more than $100 million to fix them all — if new slides don’t come first.
California is a national leader in confronting climate change, but making Highway 1 sustainable may be a challenge it cannot surmount. Despite spending a billion dollars a year to fix damage that climate-related stressors inflict on its roadways — plus $100 million in projects to make infrastructure more resilient to climate change **—** the state is struggling to fortify one of its most prized landmarks.
Read more here: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/05/07/california-highway1-climate-change-landslide/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com](https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/05/07/california-highway1-climate-change-landslide/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=reddit.com)