A months-long, $11.5 million rebuild of Highway 1 south of Big Sur is underway.
It can’t be completed too soon for area businesses.
Crews will work 12 hours a day, seven days a week to rebuild a 150-foot section of the scenic, two-lane roadway, said Caltrans spokesman Colin Jones.
"(We’re going to) build a big embankment rebuild, rebuild the roadway at that location and the main factor is putting in these extra drainage culvert pipes that will triple our drainage capacity at that location and make the highway more resilient and sustainable," he told KCBS Radio.
The road is expected to be open again by early summer.
Less traffic means less business for restaurants along Highway 1.
Kirk Gafill, general manager of Nepenthe Restaurant in Big Sur, said business is off 30 percent to 40 percent since the dramatic collapse and even more south of the slide.
"It’s of extreme importance not just to the Big Sur community, but to California as a whole given tourism being such an important part of our economy and Highway 1 is the prime destination for many travelers from all over the world," Gafill added.
Hillsides scorched by the Dolan Fire, and act of arson, couldn’t hold the heavy rainfall and plunged into the ocean.
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