- Where
- Highway 1, Monterey County
California, United States - Start / end
- Carmel to the Monterey–San Luis Obispo county line
(the reopening covered Carmel to Cambria) - Length
- 72 mi / 115.9 km (FHWA, America’s Byways; Caltrans post miles 0.0–72.8)
- Designation
- All-American Road (FHWA)
- Season
- Open all year; closed by slides in winter storms and by fires
- Fees
- None for the road (FHWA)
- Status
- Open with one-way controls (Caltrans, 13 Oct 2026)
- Advisory
- United States
(no State Department level)
Fog came up off the sea and sat in the canyons, and the road clung to the side of the mountains with a long drop to cold water on my right the whole way. Tall red trees down in the gullies, a concrete arch leaping a ravine, and every few bends a pull-off full of people standing very still. I stood very still too.
Route facts
- Route
- Carmel-by-the-Sea to Monterey–San Luis Obispo county line (towards Cambria)
- Length
- 72 miles (115.9 km); Caltrans post miles 0.0 to 72.8 in Monterey CountyChecked · Federal Highway Administration, America’s Byways: Route 1, Big Sur Coast Highway
- Season window
- Open all year; winter storms bring slide closures and late summer brings fire closuresChecked · Caltrans: State Route 1 conditions
- Closures
- Partly closed as read Open on 13 October 2026 with one-way traffic control at Mud Creek and Rocky Creek Bridge; Caltrans District 5 announced full overnight closures near Point Sur, 11 pm to 5 am, from 12 to 15 October.Live alert: Caltrans: State Route 1 conditions
- Fees
- No fee for the roadChecked · Federal Highway Administration, America’s Byways: Route 1, Big Sur Coast Highway
- Cost to enter
- Free
- Anchor point
- Bixby Creek Bridge
36.37° N, 121.90° W
The short answer
Big Sur is the stretch of the California coast where the Santa Lucia Mountains drop straight into the Pacific, in Monterey County between Carmel and the San Luis Obispo County line, and State Route 1 runs its length. The Federal Highway Administration lists the Big Sur Coast Highway as an All-American Road and gives it as 72 miles (115.9 km): an hour and a half to drive, or five hours to see. Caltrans’s own post miles agree: in Monterey County, Highway 1 runs from post mile 0.0 at the San Luis Obispo County line to post mile 72.8, where it widens to four lanes in Carmel. There is no fee for the road. It is open all year, but not reliably: landslides closed it from January 2023, the last of them was cleared on 14 January 2026, and fires closed long stretches again in August and September 2026. Caltrans publishes the road’s current status online and by phone; check it on the morning you drive.
Why it's worth knowing
A road on borrowed ground. The US Geological Survey has identified 75 miles of the Big Sur coastline as one of the most landslide-prone areas in the western United States, with more than 1,500 mapped slides, the Governor of California’s office noted when the highway reopened in January 2026. Two of those slides overlapped. Paul’s Slide closed the highway from 14 January 2023 to 23 June 2024; Regent’s Slide, six miles to the north, gave way on 9 February 2024 and kept a section closed until noon on 14 January 2026. The state’s release says that day restored travel between Carmel and Cambria “for the first time in almost three years”, nearly 90 days ahead of the estimated date of 30 March.
How you mend a mountain. At Regent’s Slide, Caltrans and Caterpillar ran bulldozers and excavators by remote control from a safe distance while the slope was moving, and crews drilled and grouted more than 4,600 steel bars, some 60 feet long, into the hillside on a 10-by-10-foot grid to tie its layers together, by the Governor’s account. Before the reopening they removed about 6,000 cubic yards of mud and debris left by winter storms. The same release warns that storms may bring temporary closures at Regent’s Slide, and occasional full closures elsewhere while crews clear debris.
Fire, too. On 11 August 2026 Caltrans closed ten miles of Highway 1 for the Timber Fire, between a point two miles north of Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and Fernwood. On 27 August, with the Plaskett Fire burning as well, the closure grew to forty miles, from Gorda to just north of Captain Cooper Elementary. The northern closure was lifted at 6 a.m. on 3 September; the southern one, from Pacific Valley to the county line, was still in place that day, Caltrans District 5 announced. Its reopening date was not found in Caltrans’s releases, but the state’s highway report of 12 October 2026 shows no full closure there.
The field notes
The bridge in every photograph
The concrete arch most photographs of Big Sur show is the Bixby Creek Bridge, a reinforced-concrete open-spandrel arch about 13 miles south of Carmel. Wikipedia records that construction began on 24 August 1931 and that the bridge opened on 27 November 1932, and, citing the Structurae database, gives it as 714 feet long with 260 feet of clearance below. Wikipedia and Structurae also give a main span of 360 feet; no Caltrans or other primary record of the span was found for this entry, so the figure is not relied on here.
How closures are announced
Caltrans District 5, which covers Monterey County, announces Big Sur work and closures in advance in its news releases, and its highway report for State Route 1 lists the controls in force by post mile. Work zones on this coast are frequent: in October 2026 alone there were overnight full closures near the Point Sur Lighthouse to repair an embankment that failed in February 2026, one-way control at Mud Creek near the south end, and round-the-clock one-way traffic at Rocky Creek Bridge. Caltrans says each one-way control can add up to 10 minutes. Read the highway report and QuickMap on the morning you drive.
Highway 1 along the Santa Lucia Range above Sand Dollar Beach, fog lifting off the sea, August 2019.
Photograph: Thederekjohnson · CC BY-SA 4.0
McWay Falls dropping onto the beach of McWay Cove, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, June 2016.
Photograph: Laurens R. Krol · CC BY 4.0 · cropped
- Drive it south in the morning, with the sea on your side of the car, and stop more often than you planned.
- Check the road that morning, not the night before. The hillside does not keep office hours.
- Pull over and let the people who live here get past. This is their way to the shops.
- Stop at every pull-off with a view. (Added at the third pull-off. Then at the fourth, the fifth, and a sixth that was mostly a cow.)
- Wait for the fog to lift off one canyon, then go back and look at it again.
The pins in the hillside at Regent’s Slide. Under a stretch of Highway 1 on the Big Sur north coast, more than 4,600 steel bars, some of them 60 feet long, are drilled and grouted into the slope on a grid ten feet by ten, tying its layers of rock and soil together so the hill holds the road instead of taking it. Caltrans installed them between 2024 and January 2026, after the slope gave way on 9 February 2024; the Governor of California’s office described them as shear dowels when the highway reopened on 14 January 2026. Drivers pass over them without seeing a single one.
Tally, in the marginI drove over that slope twice and admired the view both times. Only at supper did I learn that the hill underneath had been pinned in place like a hem, and I have looked at hills differently since.
Getting there
How to drive it. Highway 1 leaves Carmel-by-the-Sea heading south and follows the coast into San Luis Obispo County; Cambria is the first town of any size beyond the county line. FHWA allows an hour and a half to drive the 72 miles of the byway, or five hours to see it. Drivers coming from the south pick it up at Cambria; US 101, inland, is the road Caltrans sends traffic to when Highway 1 is shut.
When to go. The road is open all year when the hillside allows. Winter storms are when slides happen, and the state warns of temporary closures at Regent’s Slide in storms; late summer and autumn are fire season, as August and September 2026 showed. Check the same morning: Caltrans’s highway information line is 1-800-427-7623, and its QuickMap (quickmap.dot.ca.gov) shows closures and work zones.
What to arrange ahead. Nothing for the road itself: there is no fee, no permit and no reservation (FHWA). Allow for one-way traffic controls, which Caltrans says can add up to 10 minutes each, and for the overnight closures it announces in advance.
Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here; the hazards are the road’s own. Slides, falling rock and fire closures are the reason it shuts. Obey closure signs and the message boards Caltrans places at both ends.
Mark this place
Common questions
Is Highway 1 through Big Sur open all year?
Highway 1 through Big Sur is open all year when the hillside allows, but it closes for landslides in winter storms and for fires in late summer: slides shut it from January 2023 until 14 January 2026, and the Timber and Plaskett fires closed up to forty miles in August and September 2026. Caltrans publishes the current status for State Route 1 at roads.dot.ca.gov.
When did Highway 1 in Big Sur reopen?
Highway 1 through Big Sur reopened at Regent’s Slide at noon on 14 January 2026, restoring travel between Carmel and Cambria for the first time in almost three years, the Governor of California announced. Regent’s Slide began on 9 February 2024; Paul’s Slide, six miles south, had closed the road from January 2023 to June 2024.
How long is the Big Sur drive on Highway 1?
The Federal Highway Administration lists Route 1 – Big Sur Coast Highway as an All-American Road of 72 miles (115.9 km); in Monterey County, Caltrans’s post miles for Highway 1 run from 0.0 at the San Luis Obispo County line to 72.8, where the road widens to four lanes in Carmel. The FHWA allows an hour and a half to drive it and five hours to see it, with no fee for the road.
Why does Highway 1 in Big Sur keep closing?
Big Sur’s slopes slide. The US Geological Survey has identified 75 miles of the Big Sur coastline as one of the most landslide-prone areas in the western United States, with more than 1,500 mapped slides, according to the Governor of California’s office. In August and September 2026 the Timber and Plaskett fires also closed up to forty miles of the highway.
How was Regent's Slide in Big Sur repaired?
At Regent’s Slide on Highway 1, Caltrans used remotely operated bulldozers and excavators supplied with Caterpillar, and drilled and grouted more than 4,600 steel bars, up to 60 feet long, into the slope on a 10-by-10-foot grid to tie its layers together. The road reopened on 14 January 2026.
Is there a fee to drive Highway 1 through Big Sur?
No. The Federal Highway Administration lists no fee for the Big Sur Coast Highway. State parks along Highway 1 in Big Sur charge their own day-use fees for parking.
When is the Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur from?
The Bixby Creek Bridge on Highway 1 in Big Sur opened on 27 November 1932, after construction that began on 24 August 1931, by Wikipedia’s account. It is a reinforced-concrete arch about 714 feet long, 13 miles south of Carmel near the northern end of the Big Sur coast.
How can I check Big Sur road conditions before driving?
Caltrans publishes California highway conditions by route at roads.dot.ca.gov and by phone at 1-800-427-7623, and shows closures on its QuickMap. Caltrans District 5, which covers Monterey County, announces Big Sur closures in advance in its news releases.