Featured image credit: thumbnail from this YouTube video
The Pacific Highway (also known as Highway 1 or SR 1) was California’s first State Scenic Highway and is also the longest state route in California, with a length of over 656 miles. Unfortunately, the highway’s other characteristic are landslides. Since California’s encounter with an atmospheric river, a piece of Highway 1 has fallen into the depths of the ocean thanks to the heavy rains that have induced a landslide (the featured image is that). Only 3 years ago, the highway recovered from a massive landslide that happened in 2017.
Rain isn’t the only threat to highway 1, unfortunately. Fires and the sea also assault Highway 1’s stability, of which all these factors are undoubtedly boosted by climate change. As you would expect, the sisyphean task of repairing this highway is expensive, and at what point does Highway 1 hemorrhage enough money to the point it’s no longer worth maintaining? I would definitely try to drive this highway before it’s too late.