I see carbrain is alive and well, both in Big Sur, as well as at The Guardian. As with virtually every complaint about too many people in the US, the problem is not the people but the cars. Virtually every problem noted in the article would be solved if visitors left their cars at home.
These problems are completely solvable, we just choose not to solve them. Not because there aren’t solutions but because people just plain don’t like doing things differently than they’re used to.
I won’t generally argue against chronic car brain (I also haven’t owned a car in like 5 years) but this is a pretty unusual case in that the highway is a big part of the attraction.
Driving highway 1 is pretty wonderful, and the section through Big Sur is undoubtedly the best part of it. This isn’t an accident-- the highway was built about a hundred years ago specifically to encourage recreation on the coast.
I think properly solving this problem requires a lot more than just leaving cars at home. It requires a cultural shift in how we treat the natural scenes and historic artifacts in our stewardship.
I understand the history but we’ve moved past that, clearly. When there’s no longer enough physical space to accommodate all the people who want to drive somewhere, a change needs to be made. Or don’t, I don’t care but then it’s weird to whine about it when the means to solve it are readily available.
When you’re right you’re right. It’s one of the most beautiful stretches of road in the world and people want to drive it, it’s just not big enough for everyone to do that.
