SAN FRANCISCO– Traffic resumed Sunday on California’s scenic Highway 1 after a section of the coastal route collapsed during an Easter weekend storm, forcing closures and stranding motorists near Big Sur, authorities said.
The collapse occurred Saturday afternoon during a rainstorm near Rocky Creek Bridge, about 17 miles (27 kilometers) south of Monterey, sending chunks of asphalt from the south side of the two-lane highway into the ocean.
The highway was closed in both directions in the mountainous region of the Central Coast while engineers assessed damage, the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, said.
“We are working on a plan to evacuate motorists from the area,” the California Highway Patrol said Saturday. Officials did not say how many people were stranded.
By Sunday afternoon, crews had determined that travel in the northbound lane was safe, and authorities began guiding motorists around the damaged section.
The famous highway is frequently closed due to collapses, mudslides and landslides during severe weather.
The slow-moving storm dumped heavy rain at lower elevations and more than a foot (0.3 meters) of snow in the Sierra Nevada ski areas around Lake Tahoe.
Ryan Kittell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the system is typical for March but was not an atmospheric river like many of the other storms that have battered the state in recent winters.
The storm left the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday and “just marched down the California coast,” bringing most of the rainfall to the Los Angeles area, Kittell said.
The storm then parked itself over Southern California, where it was expected to linger until Sunday evening or Monday. Showers and possible thunderstorms, with a chance of lightning and damaging winds, were possible in parts of Santa Barbara, Ventura and LA counties.
