The state is putting $16.3 million into fixing five stretches of Highway 1 and U.S. 101 in Mendocino County that storms and a landslide tore up over the past year. The money is part of a roughly $540 million transportation package the California Transportation Commission approved last month.
Where the money goes
All of it is emergency money under Senate Bill 1, the 2017 gas-tax law, and all of it pays to fix winter-storm damage:
- $6.7 million on Highway 1 near Elk, for debris removal, roadway repairs and a retaining wall after a landslide in February.
- $3.7 million on U.S. 101 near Pieta, for a retaining wall and drainage repairs after heavy rains in December.
- $2.6 million on U.S. 101 near Piercy, for drainage and roadway repairs after winter storms early this year.
- $2.5 million on Highway 1 near Rockport, for roadway and drainage repairs after storms in December.
- $800,000 on U.S. 101 near Laytonville, to replace a culvert after heavy rains in March 2025.
Roads the north county knows
These are roads anyone who drives the north county knows, and roads that have been failing in roughly the same spots every wet winter. The biggest single repair is the Elk landslide, which hit Highway 1 on the coast in February. The U.S. 101 sites run up the spine of the county toward the Humboldt County line.
Part of a bigger statewide round
The allocation is the county’s slice of a statewide round the commission approved in late May. Caltrans said the $540 million includes $152 million from the 2021 federal infrastructure law, $253 million from SB 1 and $135 million from the state highway account and other sources. The agency, citing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Build More, Faster” initiative, said the work would generate close to 6,000 jobs across California.
Mendocino was not the only North Coast county on the list. In Caltrans’ District 1, which runs from Lake County to the Oregon border, Humboldt County drew emergency repairs on Route 96 near Tish Tang and on Route 211. Lake County got turn and acceleration lanes on Route 29 near Twin Lakes. Del Norte County drew drainage and fish-passage work on U.S. 101.
What it doesn’t fix
The announcement didn’t say when crews would start on the individual Mendocino sites. Because this is emergency money tied to damage that already happened, much of the work is the kind Caltrans can start under its own emergency authority before the dollars are formally allocated — so on some of these stretches, crews may already be out.
The five repairs do not touch the county’s deeper road problem, which is the local network the county itself maintains. But for drivers who have spent the past two winters dodging one-lane controls and orange cones on Highway 1 and U.S. 101, the list is at least an answer to a simple question: which torn-up stretches are getting fixed, and with whose money.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Mendocino County getting?
$16.3 million, spread across five separate repair projects on Highway 1 and U.S. 101.
Which roads will be repaired?
Highway 1 near Elk and Rockport, and U.S. 101 near Pieta, Piercy and Laytonville.
Where does the money come from?
It is emergency funding under Senate Bill 1, the 2017 state gas-tax law, part of a roughly $540 million statewide round approved by the California Transportation Commission in late May.
When will the work start?
Caltrans did not give site-by-site dates. Because this is emergency repair work, crews may already be out on some stretches.