California's Big Sur Coast Highway 1 Closed for Repairs

Travelers to California may want to hold off a few months on plans for a road trip down California's Big Sur Coast HIghway 1 by car hire.  A two mile section of the highway at Rocky Point is closed after a 40 foot section of the roadway collapsed into the Pacific Ocean last Wednesday night.

The road will be closed between Bixby Creek Bridge and Palo Colorado Road south of Carmel, according to the California Department of Transportation.  Officials speculate it will be at least a month until repairs can facilitate passage of the road, and even then it will only be temporary.  This isn't the first time the Big Sur Coast Highway has washed-out and the focus now will be on repairing the road as well as the surrounding concrete and steel structure for several miles in order to prevent future wash-outs.

For those who already have plans in the area, not to worry, all businesses in Big Sur remain open and CAL-TRANS recommends using highways 101, 68 and 46 as alternate routes for your road trip through the Big Sur area by car hire.  There are also several other Popular Routes in California by car rental that you can change your plans to, such as the Old California Mission Road by car hire.

Below is video footage of the collapse on Highway 1 from a local California news station.