2,000 Motorists Stranded After Part of Highway 1 in California Collapses

A portion of Highway 1 in the Big Sur area of California collapsed over the weekend, stranding about 2,000 motorists, most of them tourists, overnight.

Officials with the California Department of Transportation said on the X platform that a section of the highway, from Lime Creek to the north and Limekiln to the south, would remain closed, while crews worked on the affected areas. On Friday the officials said that a section, known as Ragged Point, was shuttered “due to slide activity north of this location.”

There were no reported injuries. The agency did not give an estimate of when it expected to reopen the highway.

On Sunday afternoon, officials with the Monterey County Department of Emergency Management sent convoys with police escorts to get people out of the affected areas, Nicholas Pasculli, a spokesman for the county, said.

Many of those stranded were visitors who were driving through the area, considered among one of the most picturesque in the world, over the Easter holiday and had to sleep in temporary shelters, which were at 75 percent capacity, Mr. Pasculli said. Others stayed in local hotels, bed-and-breakfasts and campgrounds, and others slept in their cars, he added.

Another convoy is scheduled for Monday morning in case the crews are not able to reach everyone by Sunday night, he said.