20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY May 30-june 5, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com reopen the dream Highway 1 road trip between Carmel and Cambria in late fall—close to two years since it’s been cut off. And that’s assuming no more incidents happen between now and then. The 2001 report on closures is one of many reports produced over the years that echo the same thing: The highway is fundamentally unstable, and closures are to be expected. “Neither the Big Sur coast, nor the Highway 1 corridor, nor its management context is static,” according to a 2004 management plan produced by Caltrans. “Just as geologic processes continue to shape the landscape, new information drives the regulatory environment. Changing demographics, the economy, and land use along the corridor all influence travel patterns. All of these are dynamic.” As much as dynamics change, they stay the same. A 1972 film narrated by actor Doug McClure and directed by Robert K. Blaisdell relies mostly on footage gathered in the 1960s, with testimony from local celebrities like Helmuth Deetjen and Henry Miller, as well as visiting hippies. Big Sur: The Way It Was reflects many of the same concerns of today through its own lens of 50 years ago. Next to a sticker reading “Keep Big Sur Beautiful,” McClure describes the growing “threat of overcrowding, the danger of the destruction of the backcountry, the scarring of the mountains, and fire.” One speaker says, “As more people come in, the very thing people come for is being destroyed—freedom, privacy, beautiful country, nature in its pristine beauty.” About three years ago, a group called Keep Big Sur Wild formed in order to be involved in the still-ongoing process of amending the Big Sur Coast Land Use Plan, first adopted in 1986. For Marcus Foster, one of the founders of Keep Big Sur Wild, the primary goal is keeping that 1986 vision of limiting development intact. “The land use plan is the heartbeat of what has protected this place,” he says. An ad hoc committee comprising county planning commissioners Diehl and Kate Daniels (also supervisor-elect for District 5, which includes Big Sur) have spent years refining amendments to the 38-year-old document. That means wrestling with questions about the appropriate number of lodging units, housing units and price points. But to Diehl, it is ultimately about Highway 1. Protecting the road and the scenic experience of the drive is high on Diehl’s priority list, and in honoring the original spirit of the land use plan. “Big Sur was going to be designed as a place for people to drive through and experience the views,” she says. “Highway 1, the drive, that’s the thing.” To protect the viewshed means limits on new buildings and on parking. Where drivers have created and expanded pullouts at Garrapata State Park are now routinely stacked with parked cars, which diminishes the quality of the drive, Diehl notes: “Now the experience is to look at parked cars, not the scenery.” Bixby Bridge has similarly become a traffic jam chokepoint. To Diehl, the 1986 plan was effective because it recognized the highway as the primary way for the public to experience Big Sur—they wouldn’t need to spend the night, go for a hike or even stop for lunch to experience the place. It could be experienced through the car window. “In Big Sur uniquely, unlike anywhere else, public access is primarily visual access, and public access cannot be allowed to impinge upon that. Otherwise,” Diehl says, “it’s just for rich people.” Of course, rich people have a way of enjoying the peacefulness of Big Sur even when the highway is closed. During the convoy era, Post Ranch Inn offered helicopter rides, about 15 minutes in duration, to and from Monterey Regional Airport so guests could still visit. (From co-owner Mike Freed’s perspective, that was a critical decision to support 200 employees. “We knew we were going to lose money, but we kept people working and that was the key,” he says.”) Even after Caltrans and CHP agreed to allow the general public to use the convoy system starting on April 29, the public was slow to return. At Nepenthe in mid-May, two big tables remain covered with partially completed jigsaw puzzles; there is so little business that they might as well keep them set aside. The idea that Big Sur is the ultimate road trip obviously requires a road. Caltrans hired Teichert Construction for initial stabilization work at Rocky Creek, which came in at $3.1 million. The estimate for a permanent repair (contractor TBD) is $21 million, just one of four current projects. (Papich Construction is the contractor for the three South Coast slides, with a $60 million project at Paul’s Slide, a $31 million contract at Regent’s and $1.8 million at Dolan Point.) The conditions that lead to closures—fires, storm swells at high tide, heavy rain—are all likely to increase in frequency and severity with climate change. “Big Sur is poised to be better prepared, because we have already gone through this so much,” Ballantyne says. For businesses, planning for a drop in visitors is increasingly part of the business plan. “We have organically already started to make sure we are protected financially so we can get through these crises without closing the business,” Ballantyne says. “You have to have a chunk of money to get through a threemonth closure for any period of time. This is a known factor—that the road will close, there will be a fire, there will be a flood. Knowing that is a good philosophy going forward for business in Big Sur. We already live it.” At Deetjen’s, Glazer has learned to expect a slow return to normal visitor volume. “We are looking at 12 to 18 months of recovery,” he says. “2011 taught us that, 2016 taught us that, 2017 taught us that. Getting the word out about being reopened is way more difficult because the news cycle talks about the disaster.” He sees an opportunity to change the story about Big Sur and Highway 1—that closures or travel difficulty is intrinsic, not a one-off. He wants visitors bureaus and marketing agencies to trumpet it, instead of pretending a free and clear road is normal: “We are beautiful because of our nature and nature is ever-changing. Those things are in tension.” He hopes that can make visitors better prepared, as well. And they need to be. Kim says it was a regular occurrence at Fernwood during the convoys that confused guests would show up, entirely unaware that they had to leave on a 5pm convoy, or that they would not be able to continue a drive to the south. The hospitality industry workforce serves in many ways as the visitors’ center of Big Sur, answering phone calls from prospective guests about trails, poison oak and highway closures. “We all become ambassadors for this area,” Morgenrath says. Residents have developed resilience and adaptability, taking care of each other. Maybe, with enough information, tourists can be too. “What’s the difference between a good traveler or a bad traveler?” Glazer says. “It comes down to information. Most people coming to Big Sur don’t know what they’re coming for, other than three attractions and an Instagram picture. “Really the attraction is the act of traveling the highway, and discovering and witnessing the engineering marvel of a highway system cut into a hillside along the edge of a continent. That is what we need to talk about.” The idea that the highway is subject to disasters could, perhaps, be part of the draw. At least it already is for locals. In Big Sur: The Way It Was, Henry Miller speaks very much about Big Sur the way it is. “That’s what I like about Big Sur,” he says. “It kills out the weak, and only the strong survive there… That’s another tribute to the community that lives in Big Sur. They survive everything—everything.” About 500 vehicles a day traveled via convoy in April; that number grew to 700 after the general public was allowed. Signal lights enabled 24/7 traffic starting on May 17. Sara Rubin
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