Topline:

What happened? Two back-to-back landslides — the Paul Slide and the Regent’s Slide — have kept a portion of the road above the Big Sur coastline closed since January 2023.

Remote control excavators: Kevin Drabinski, a spokesperson with Caltrans District 5, said crews have faced big challenges clearing more than 300,000 cubic yards of material. “We were faced with this, literally a crack in the ground, that we could not bring bodies across,” Drabinski said. Workers were able to use remote-controlled excavators and bulldozers to make progress.

It’s not all closed: Roughly 7 miles between the Esalen Institute in the north and the Lucia Lodge in the south remain closed, but there’s still about 100 miles of smooth Highway 1 driving between Cambria and Carmel.

Setbacks? Caltrans

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