BIG SUR, Calif. — A section of California’s scenic Highway 1 that collapsed during a winter storm has reopened to traffic.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and work crews stood on the freshly paved and marked roadway to celebrate the reopening Friday.
The highway along Big Sur had been closed since Jan. 28, when heavy rain unleashed torrents of mud and debris left over from a wildfire, washing down a 150-foot chunk of roadway into the sea.
Storms in 2017 caused slides that closed off Big Sur for more than a year. This time, crews worked nearly 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, and were able to restore the roadway nearly two months ahead of schedule, aided by dry weather and increasingly longer days.