BIG SUR – Repairs are ongoing on the Rocky Creek accident scene that occurred March 30 along a portion of Highway 1 and can involve intermittent delays and a full overnight closure five days every week starting for the subsequent two weeks.
Kevin Drabinski, spokesman for Caltrans District 5, said that “repair work at the Rocky Creek slip is on schedule.” The overnight work includes excavation and drilling in preparation for the installation of columns that may support the roadway at the positioning of the slip.
Emergency repair work near the Rocky Creek Bridge, 12 miles south of Carmel, has thus far included stabilizing and strengthening the roadway at that location and clearing traffic flow for a one-way traffic light system to offer 24-hour access to Big Sur and its businesses, which remain open to summer visitors.
Overnight work is scheduled for the subsequent two weeks from 10 p.m. to six a.m. Sunday through next Thursday. There might be no overnight work on Fridays and Saturdays. Overnight work will then resume from 10 p.m. to six a.m. August 4-8. Caltrans will provide further updates on this schedule.
According to Caltrans, the overnight construction work will lead to two kinds of traffic disruptions. There will either be temporary delays of as much as an hour or an entire closure of the highway overnight.
When repair work occasionally requires the movement of apparatus and machinery across the whole width of the project area, delays of up to at least one hour are sometimes experienced. These occasional one-hour delays during night work might be a recurring phenomenon during repair work at Rocky Creek.
If equipment and machinery need to work across the whole width of the project area during the whole night shift, it will lead to a full closure of the motorway from Sunday to Thursday nights between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. During the total overnight closure, driving through the repair site is just not permitted.
From Sunday to Thursday next week there might be temporary delays of up to at least one hour between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The following week, August 4-8, travelers will experience an entire overnight closure of Highway 1 from 10:00 p.m. to six:00 a.m. on the Rocky Creek Slip-Out Repair Site.
The repair work through the day is just not expected to cause any significant traffic delays. Travelers will still have the opportunity to access the repair site through the day within the northbound lane.
Drabinski said Caltrans desires to inform the general public what temporary delays and closures to expect over the subsequent two weeks and that the general public will proceed to have access to and from Big Sur.
“This is the main street of this community and we are doing what we can to encourage traffic in this direction during the repairs,” Drabinski said.
Starting Sunday, once equipment is on site and the work area is about up, digging and drilling will begin. In the meantime, K-rails, the concrete barriers that separate employees from traffic, have been adjusted and the roadway has been re-marked to permit work to proceed on the southbound carriageway.
The estimated cost of repairs to the Rocky Creek slip-out site is $21 million.
Completion of the Rocky Creek Viaduct is scheduled for summer 2025, pending conditions during construction. The contractor for this project is Gordon N. Ball, Inc. of Alamo.
Highway 1 stays closed 40 miles south of Carmel as a result of Regent's Slide (from mile 27.8). Work there began on April 30 and is predicted to be cleared by late fall of this yr.
Road information and updates will also be found on Caltrans District 5's social media platforms: X/Twitter at: @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5), and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com