It’s open! The last landslide closure on Highway 1 near Big Sur reopened to traffic earlier than expected

A stretch of Highway 1 south of Big Sur, closed for 14 months after a massive landslide, reopened Wednesday morning, two days ahead of schedule, according to Caltrans.

The road reopened at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday. It’s good news for travelers, who can now drive between Carmel and San Luis Obispo without the closure at Mud Creek on the iconic route. For months, drivers who wanted to do the coastal drive have had to take long inland detours.

The road was scheduled to reopen Friday. A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the reopening is still set for 11 a.m. Friday at the nearby Ragged Point Inn.

The new road extends 250 feet out from the original road. In an announcement, Caltrans warns drivers that there may be one-way traffic at times because work continues in the area.

Crews have been working on the roadway since the May 2017 landslide displaced 6 million cubic yards of debris, creating 2,400 feet of new shoreline. Caltrans has spent $54 million to repair the route and reconstruct a quarter-mile of new road.