20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 29-NOVEMBER 4, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com Big Sur is at an inflection point for managing tourism against longstanding environmental and housing pressures. By Katie Rodriguez At the Edge For just a moment, after three years of a closed Highway 1, Big Sur was almost getting back into the swing of a normal summer. On one mid-summer Sunday in 2026, the lawn behind Big Sur River Inn restaurant saw its typical crowd of people. One group, visiting from Spain, noted that because the highway was finally open, they could do their long-awaited circuit traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco, then down the Eastern Sierras. Another couple, from Orange County, were visiting the area for the first time, drawn to Big Sur for the sprawling vistas and unadulterated natural landscape. Group after group shared a similar story. The highway reopened, they had seen photos of the redwoods, of Bixby Bridge and other magical places like Keyhole Arch at Pfeiffer Beach, and booked their respective trips. But on this particular day, Aug. 9, a confluence of events converged to reshape these visitors’ plans, some of whom were already shifting their expectations for their trips. For many hoping to make Bixby Bridge one of their stops along the highway, they were met by a string of orange traffic cones and two highway patrol officers blocking any pursuit of selfies. Tourists gather at Hurricane Point Friday afternoon, Oct. 16, a popular vista on Highway 1 in Big Sur, to snap views of Bixby Bridge in the distance. Traffic congestion along the Carmel–Big Sur corridor has grown over the years, creating mounting safety concerns. In response to these concerns, the Monterey County Planning Commission advanced plans for the ParkIT! shuttle, a community initiative long in the making. DANIEL DREIFUSS NIK BLASKOVICH
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