Highway 41 to remain closed indefinitely

Highway 41 between Morro Bay and Atascadero will remain closed indefinitely following a mudslide that occurred during storms in early January.

“We have the big task of removing 20 to 30 thousand cubic yards of material,” says CalTrans media affairs officer Jim Shivers. “The conditions remain dangerous, even for our own workers, to work on taking care of this problem.”

Those who live off of Highway 41 say it has been years since a mudslide caused this much damage.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be, because it could have been much worse,” says Warren Stephenson, who has lived along the highway for four decades.

The debris on the road is an problem, but it is a group of unstable rocks about 100 feet above the roadway that is causing the most issues for CalTrans.

“If we don’t deal with it, it could trigger a slide that would span over 1000 feet,” says Shivers.