Authorities plan to build road over Central California slide

BIG SUR, Calif. – California officials say they’ll build a road over a massive Central Coast landslide that closed the scenic coastal highway leading to Big Sur.

The Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that spanning the Mud Creek site will be a faster and cheaper way of reopening Highway 1, compared to boring a tunnel or sidestepping the slide area.

A quarter-mile of Highway 1 was buried in May when more than 1 million tons of rock and earth slipped down a slope saturated by winter storms.

Caltrans says the replacement road will be realigned across the slide and buttressed with embankments, berms, rocks and other supports.

Caltrans has said it may take a year to reopen the route. A timetable and cost estimate will be announced later this month.