California Highway 1 re-opens a year after landslide

A section of Highway 1 in California re-opened 14 months after a major landslide buried the road which connects San Francisco and Los Angeles.

In February 2017, three months after the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge (located around 150 miles south of San Francisco) sank due to heavy rains, the massive landslide swallowed a large part of the highway. The length of the road affected was a quarter of a mile. The highway had been closed after smaller-rain caused-landslides warned the authorities. 

Big Sur community was trapped between the two non-functional parts of the road. Hotels and restaurants that relied on roadtrippers faced ruin, while schoolchildren were forced to hike a steep, hastily-dug forest trail to get to class. Kirk Gafill, owner of Nepenthe in Big Sur, said to Guardian "Our community has never been so tested.'' Susana Cruz, a spokesperson with Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) stated "The dream of traveling Highway 1 from San Francisco to San Diego is a reality again."

According to Caltrans, the project included the reconstruction of the road on the slide material. The roadway is 150 to 260 feet above sea level and buttressed by embankments, berms, rocks and other material. The repair cost was $54 million. 

Ringo Jukes, a waiter who works at a nearby cafe told CNN "It's already starting to get better, especially on the weekends people still come down but now they are going to be coming from both directions."