'Monumental' undertaking: Workers finally tame an epic landslide that blocked Highway 1

Drivers along Highway 1 - coming and going to Big Sur - typically ignored Mud Creek. Most maps overlooked this most prosaically named feature along the California coast.

There were no landmarks here, nothing to call attention to anything but the road, which hugged a cliff high above the surf below. To do otherwise would invite tragedy.

Yet in matters of California geology, nothing is too modest to be remarkable.

Last year Mud Creek roared into life when it channeled one of the state's largest landslides in recent history, severing Highway 1 for a quarter mile and presenting dozens of engineers, geologists and construction crews the greatest challenge of their careers.

For 14 months, they devoted themselves to reopening this iconic route, and Wednesday, culminating an arduous schedule of 12-hour days, seven days a week, they allowed themselves to celebrate.

At 9:45 a.m., Caltrans made a final inspection, opened the