California's legendary Highway 1 in greater danger amid climate change

LOS ANGELES, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Nearly three months later, a section of California's legendary Highway 1 that was washed out by atmospheric river storms in late January has reopened to traffic.

The 84-year-old highway, one of the most celebrated scenic drives in the United States and a frequent destination for tourists, winds northward from San Diego to San Francisco along about 800 km of the magnificent California coastline.

"There are few, if any, more iconic routes than Highway 1 -- not just in California but anywhere in the world," California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday, standing on the spot near Big Sur where the section once vanished into the Pacific Ocean to celebrate the reopening two months ahead of schedule.

"What this road means to the local economy, to the people of this region and to all Californians is invaluable," Newsom told a small gathering of local officials and media.

"As we rebuild, we do so with the knowledge that the conditions that washed out this section of roadway will become more common in the future," Newsom continued. "We must fortify our infrastructure with climate resiliency in mind."

In fact, the highway's proximity to the sea has made it the beleaguered target of seasonal tempests and tidal surges.

For example, in the wake of a massive landslide on May 20, 2017, a quarter-mile of the highway had been closed for 14 months before reopening. A total of 54 million U.S. dollars were spent on repair.

Amid the atmospheric river storms in late January this year that triggered deadly debris flows, some 5,000 residents who "lived downstream of the burn areas" received evacuation orders, Kevin Drabinski, an official from the California Department of Transportation, told Xinhua.

"California Highway Patrol asked us to stop traffic Thursday afternoon, and then it morphed into, 'Oops we're missing a lane,'" Drabinski recalled, adding "the second lane was also gone" the next day.

While closures and repairs to Highway 1 are common, experts feared climate change will accelerate damage to the highway.

In December 2020, an article by the Los Angeles Times quoted Brian Collins, a civil engineer with the U.S. Geological Survey, as saying that "the sides of these mountains could turn into jelly and slough off."

"The region is bracing for more devastation, in the form of potentially deadly debris flows caused by winter storms," it added.

On March 26, a travel article by U.S. magazine The Manual titled "11 Places To Visit in America Before They Change Forever" listed Highway 1 as the No. 1 place to see before it is too late.

"Most of us have heard stories about how the clock is ticking with regards to iconic destinations like the Great Barrier Reef or Venice, Italy," the article noted.

"Climate change is chipping away at them and one day they will be no more. The same can be said for a lot of great landmarks right in our very backyard," it said, adding "scenic stretches like those in and around Big Sur likely be the first to go."

Gary Griggs, a renowned geologist and distinguished professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told Xinhua on Friday that the state's "most iconic tourist attraction will never be closed," adding the highway is "just too important."

In the meantime, "more and more expensive Band-Aids" that cost some 200 million dollars a year will be applied to keep traffic flowing on the highway amid aberrant weather, the expert said.

Reiterating that global warming may claim another landmark soon, Griggs urged people to "come and see it (Highway 1) while you can."