Big Sur back in business with opening of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge on Highway 1

The famously fractured Big Sur coast was reconnected Friday when the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge on Monterey County’s scenic Highway 1 opened to traffic.

The new steel bridge, which spans a deep ravine thick with redwoods, replaces an old concrete bridge that slipped amid winter storms and left the region’s already isolated southern end cut off from the north.

While a massive mudslide keeps Highway 1 closed about 30 miles to the south, residents and visitors who for eight months had to hike a mile-long footpath to get from one end of the rural community of Big Sur to the other are relieved they can again drive the Pfeiffer Canyon span.

“I won’t have to haul stuff through the woods,” said Kurt Mayer, who owns the Big Sur Deli and Big Sur Tap House, just south of the bridge, where he had been carrying in food and other supplies by backpack. “Yeah, it’s great.”

Caltrans has declared the cracked Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in Big Sur beyond repair. Caltrans has declared the cracked Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge in Big Sur beyond repair. Photo: Kodiak Greenwood Photo: Kodiak Greenwood Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close Big Sur back in business with opening of Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge on Highway 1 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

The California Department of Transportation fast-tracked the $24 million project after the original bridge was demolished in March, having been weakened by landslides that loosened its foundation.

Work crews have been on the job six to seven days a week ever since.

“Normally a bridge of this magnitude can take seven to eight years to build, not seven to eight months,” said Caltrans spokeswoman Susana Cruz.

The new 310-foot bridge outside Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park is distinguished by not having columns beneath it, just strong steel girders embedded in the span that give it enough girth to cross the canyon. The design is intended to eliminate the bridge’s vulnerability to slides.

Friday’s opening of the bridge at 1:10 p.m. was celebrated by residents and local dignitaries, including Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Carmel Valley, as well as by visitors eager to get to Big Sur’s far-flung south.

“There was a line of cars on the north and the south waiting,” said Cruz. “They were honking, giving high fives and thumbs up.”

The many tourist-driven businesses south of the bridge, including the popular Nepenthe restaurant, new-age Esalen Institute and Henry Miller Memorial Library, have suffered tremendously from the lack of sightseers.

Some shops closed down while others looked for ways to lure people in. The luxury Post Ranch Inn offered its well-heeled guests helicopter rides in and out from Monterey.

During the closure, residents and visitors had the option of driving into southern Big Sur via Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. But the route is long, winding and out of the way.

The highway remains closed south of Lucia near the Monterey County-San Luis Obispo County line, meaning traveling the entire Big Sur coast is still not possible.

Caltrans officials have begun clearing the huge Mud Creek Slide, which washed out the road in May. They expect to rebuild the road by late next summer at the earliest.

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander