The reopening of rest areas along Highway 101 has been delayed, which may cause some frustration for travelers who need to use the restroom and other amenities.
“Currently, the northern rest area at Camp Roberts is closed and that reopening has been delayed by a supply chain issue with major electrical infrastructure, which has now arrived. We're just waiting for the utility to reconnect and for us to then do our testing. We're hoping for a reopening of Camp Roberts in mid-July,” explained Kevin Drabinsky, Caltrans District 5 Public Information Officer.
The Camp Roberts Rest Area north of San Miguel was originally closed in November 2021 for electrical repairs.
It was supposed to reopen this spring, but Caltrans says it’s been pushed back three months.
Meanwhile, there is no estimated time for the reopening of the Gaviota Rest Stop in southern Santa Barbara County. It was damaged during January's storms.
“The water treatment plant that we rely on for our source of water, the pipes were damaged there," Drabinsky said. "We're waiting for California State Parks to affect their repair at that water treatment facility, and when that happens, we will reopen with clean, drinkable water.”
For now, people traveling along Highway 101 must find other places to make their pit stops.
"We need to take breaks for diesel, not just to get diesel in the rig, but to let Diesel the dog do a little bio break himself," said New Jersey resident Mike Mumola who was traveling from San Francisco to Santa Monica on Tuesday. "If that happens, it's a big inconvenience, right? So it's important for safety and people just to be able to pull over and take a break."
The San Paso Truck Stop, located between Paso Robles and San Miguel, has seen so many travelers stopping by, they've had to put up a "no tour buses" sign.
“Our bathrooms aren’t really big enough to support that, but they do come in Sprinter vans. They carry a good amount of people and we’ll just have a line of people because our bathrooms are right there and so they’ll just be in front of the register and it's not really good for us,” said Sebastian, a worker at the truck stop.
Caltrans is encouraging drivers to use the Caltrans QuickMap app to search for nearby rest stops and other travel information while on a road trip.
