You probably just saved my life. I was planning to drive the coast highway on Wednesday and Thursday, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Monterey Bay... Time to replan this trip...
Meanwhile Devil's Slide is in an area suited for low speeds, careful acceleration, and reliable braking.
With witnesses are describing this:
> "As I’m driving by, I’m like, ‘Wow, he's driving extremely fast to take that exit. You're not even supposed to be going up that way,” she said. "And I can see in my rear-view mirror this car that just go over the edge and straight down."
It's hard to imagine it was anything but driver error.
Guy is a bit nuts, haha.
Oddly enough, no one was killed even though the car fell a long way.
Not sure how to avoid freeways in California, though... Should I be looking at a trip to Nevada to avoid this?
If you are planning to Vegas, you gonna have problems on SR-152/I-580 to I-5. Also, expect problems on SR-58 between Bakersfield and Barstow on I-15. Even if you want to go to Sacramento, expect long delays on all routes.
Whichever freeway you pick, you will have problems: bad visibility, very slow traffic, partial closures due to puddles, complete closures due to floods (like the north of SFO airport last time).
That's why CHP, Caltrans, NWS advise people to postpone their travel unless extremely necessary. No storm tourism either.
I suspect 80 will be closed maybe overnight because way too many people think driving in snow is just like a dry road - spin outs and crashes (even semis). In general CalTrans does a good job keeping it mostly open.
For context - I live north of Truckee and deal with 80 regularly.
Storm tourism —- another name for skiing!
Also, a lot of the small mountain roads between 1 and 280/101 washed out in the New Years Eve storm, so if you are stuck on the coast there's no guarantee you'll be able to get inland.
I would not try to travel.
> Forecast there is only 1.5".
The Centrall Valley forecast for the storm is 2-3”, actually, per NWS Sacramento.
until you get to the Grapevine. Then cross your fingers.
How about hitting the road before that to be ahead of the mess?
Monterey and Big Sur are great, but just getting home seems like a better idea.
Even if you can't leave Tuesday, you did say you had planned for Monterey on Wed. So leave early Wed, cruise down I-5 and you'll be at the grapevine with time to spare.
If "I-15" is shorthand for "395 to I-15", I would recommend against it. Cold snow after wet snow is a manor avalanche condition. It would be unlikely to hit you of course, but the roads may become impassable in ways that are far worse than I-5.
Stay safe. Leave early.
If so, it's a phenomenally scenic route. It might lead to nowhere this week though...
The biggest risks I encountered were partial flooding in low lying sections that bank inland, and various sized rocks. No signs of new erosion along the edges of any sections I encountered.
Edit: to be clear though, I wouldn't say this is a time to take a joyride in the area. I'm more speaking to the fact it's a bad idea for a fun vacation right now, not a death sentence