Caltrans crews have been making progress on the repair of Regent's Slide, which has forced the closure of Highway 1 between the Central Coast and Big Sur since February 2024.
“We were fortunate that we were able to remove the debris from on top of the roadway, expose the roadway and put a course of paving on there in advance of this rain,” said Kevin Drabinski, of Caltrans.
A winter storm Christmas week will play a role in what the next steps of repair will look like based on a site assessment that is done after the rain.
“One important thing that remains to be done is to install concrete barriers with fencing on top of it on the northbound lane to serve as a physical barrier between the slope and the highway, and that has to be in place before any travel can take place," Drabinski said.
Visit California released an economic impact report in September that included tourism spending in San Simeon was down 42% in 2023 and 2024.
“We had about a seven month period where business was looking good and promising. We had like five housekeepers, a laundry person, we had I think four front desk staff. Probably somewhere around 11 or 12 employees,” said Albert Barreto, co-owner of Coast Riders Inn.
Now, the staff at Coast Riders Inn has changed drastically because of the lack of visitors.
“We’re down now to one desk person, a laudry person, a head house keeper, and two or three part time house keepers…that’s our entire staff,” Barreto said.
Drabinski told KSBY Highway 1 should fully be reopened in the next couple of months.
“So about two weeks ago we reached out to that community and said it’s likely that the reopening will happen before March 30th," Drabinski said.
Which is why Barreto and his wife Jane have already put an ad out to hire housekeepers.
“We have had an amazing staff we’re hoping to fill the roster with even more amazing people," Barreto said.
Drabinski also said that the estimated reopening is dependent on weather and site conditions and adds that they won’t be able to confirm until about two days before the actual highway reopening.
