Caltrans outlines technical approach, monitoring and safety steps at Regent's Slide on Highway 1; no reopening date

Caltrans officials described an ongoing, multi‑phase effort to clear the Regent’s Slide on Highway 1 and said they cannot yet give a reopening date.

At a June meeting of the Big Sur Byways advisory group, Caltrans District 5 construction staff described repeated slides above the main failure, use of remote equipment and a combination of geotechnical fixes intended to allow crews to excavate downward to the ocean. "The strategy was to minimize the excavation on the coast and try to get this slide cleared as quickly as possible," the Caltrans presenter said, describing a work plan that has repeatedly moved up and down the slope as conditions change.

Caltrans said crews have used remote‑controlled dozers and excavators, contractors’ "spider hoses" for steep drops, and two large drill rigs (described in the presentation as John Henry rigs) to install steel shear dowels—40 to 60 feet long rods grouted into the slope—to pin unstable blocks in place. The agency also described deploying automated monitoring systems: slope inclinometers, "shape arrays" that transmit movement data, and high‑frequency drone surveys and total‑station survey targets to measure daily shifts.

Why the upper slope work: Caltrans said attempts to remove material from the lower…