Parking at one in every of California’s most iconic stops on Freeway 1 may very well be closed after a vote by the board of supervisors in Monterey County.
The board this week voted to maneuver ahead with a plan to limit parking round Bixby Bridge in Large Sur, which has seen an uptick in site visitors following the long-awaited reopening of an uninterrupted drive alongside California’s coast.
Whereas the parking moratorium just isn’t but in impact — and nonetheless must undergo a number of extra opinions — officers hope it would ultimately assist ease congestion and security considerations within the space. Bixby Bridge has lengthy been a well known vacationer vacation spot, however it typically experiences surges in recognition, together with in 2019 from the present “Large Little Lies.”
The movement that handed directs Monterey County employees to draft an ordinance that will ban parking within the “instant neighborhood” of Bixby Bridge for a 12 months, whereas additionally pursuing the permits required for such a call, together with from the California Coastal Fee and the Division of Transportation. The county continues to be contemplating how one can implement such a moratorium, and what that will price.
Given all these steps, it would seemingly be a number of weeks, if not months, earlier than any new parking restrictions go into impact. The Board of Supervisors may also evaluation the ordinance at the very least twice extra, which is able to present further alternatives for public remark.
After three years of closures that shuttered totally different sections of Freeway 1, truncating the 100-mile drive between Carmel and Cambria, the realm has seen a surge in tourism that officers wish to guarantee doesn’t overrun the realm. As of this month, eating places and retail areas in Large Sur have seen a few 40% surge in weekend crowds in contrast with 2025 ranges, and resort revenues up 200% from final 12 months through the spring season, in response to new information from Caltrans.
Officers mentioned the realm round Bixby Bridge has change into significantly busy, and in some circumstances harmful, with an uptick in unlawful roadside parking, and generally in energetic lanes of site visitors. Backups and diversions have affected residents, commuters and even emergency autos, county officers mentioned, in addition to created pedestrian security considerations.
