The California Rains Have Ruined America's Favorite Road Trip

From Road & Track

There's one road trip everyone should take in their lifetime: A drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles along Highway 1. One of the prettiest parts of the journey starts in Carmel in the north and ends in Cambria in the south. You pass through Big Sur and go along mile after mile of gorgeous coastline for hours. It's truly wonderful.

But the recent rains in California have ruined any chance of completing that trip for the foreseeable future.

The coast road is now closed between Palo Colorado in Monterey County and Ragged Point in San Luis Obispo County. This is, arguably, the best stretch of road on the entire trip. The reason is that the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge (above) is cracked and no longer safe. It needs to be totally replaced and will take at least six months to fix. Also, a lot of the area right after that bridge is where hotels and restaurants are for Big Sur, which means they will surely take a substantial economic hit now that travelers can't get to them as easily.

While you can still drive on Route 1 north and south of the closure, you won't be making a full road trip out of it. The closures are not placed near another road that will allow you to go east towards the 101. You'd literally have to get to the closure, turn around, and drive back the way you came. And it also appears, from the screenshot of the stretch that's closed above, that you might not be able to get to the famous Bixby Bridge. If you have a lot of time, that's fine. But if you want to just drive and enjoy the surroundings, you're SOL.

Damn.

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