Storm-Damaged Road To Muir Woods To Remain Closed
MARIN (KPIX 5) -- It could be months before the main tour bus route to Muir Woods National Monument is back open.
The Muir Words slide is bigger than thought and could take months to reopen the road.
The recent storms have made the normally busy stretch of Highway 1 impassable.
Muir Woods is so popular that they have to bus people in from off-site parking. Tour buses and school buses also arrive there daily. But you won't see a single bus in the Muir Woods parking lot anytime soon.
The portion of Highway 1 connecting Mill Valley to Muir Beach is closed indefinitely.
Lonna Richmond lives in Muir Beach and said, "I was one of the last ones to drive through before they closed it and I saw three cracks...it was slumping down."
Now, that portion of roadway litters the hillside below, making it impassable for traffic, leaving two ways to the coast and only one to popular Muir Woods.
That last Muir Woods road route, though, won't allow buses, making tourism a challenge.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area spokesman Nathan Sargent said, "There is a 17-foot limitation which will limit school buses- tour buses and the Muir Woods shuttle...trying to figure out what to do to provide a great experience for our visitors."
The GGNRA already had to cancel several school field trips and is frantically working to find a way to handle the extra congestion that will come with additional cars to the park.
Commuters are going to have to battle the crowds as well and are keeping their fingers crossed the weather holds and that the roads do too.
There is no definitive timetable on how long this will take to fix.