California’s Highway 1 Bridge Reopens

Road trip enthusiasts cheered in October as the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge reopened to the public, marking one of the final links toward fully restoring Highway 1 along the California coast.

Visitors can now travel by car from the Monterey Peninsula south to Gorda, connecting 35 miles of access on Highway 1 previously unattainable in a single straight-shot. The bridge was destroyed after heavy rains initiated a landslide earlier this year.

For seven months, residents south of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge had to hike a one-mile bypass trail in and out of the area. The isolation created by the outage helped lend the nickname “Big Sur Island” as residents were forced to walk to homes and businesses.

The area’s Post Ranch Inn had a creative solution: It initiated helicopter rides for guests to fly into and out of the resort.

The opening of the bridge brings a renewed flow of commerce to the area, with restaurants and other hotels back to full service. Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn celebrated with a new menu, and Ventana Big Sur held a grand reopening and refresh last month.

Highway 1 is still impassable from Big Sur to San Simeon due to the Mud Creek Slide. Caltrans expects to have that restored late summer 2018.