In 2018, Ernest Chung started hosting meetings at his dining room table about the cars lining Highway 1 outside Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. The Carmel Pine Cone traces the reserve's shuttle plan back to those meetings. Eight years later, that plan has a permit. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Monterey County Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve a day-use reservation system and a shuttle linking the reserve to a parking area at Marathon Flats. Three weeks before that, the Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to go after no-parking zones on the narrowest shoulders south of the entrance.
Two votes in a month sounds like momentum, and both are real steps. Each one now waits on its own paperwork, and as of late October 2026 neither has a date when it will show up on the road. If you live in Carmel Highlands or farther down the south coast, the stretch of Highway 1 you drive this winter will look like the one you drove last winter.
Two Decisions, Two Clocks
The two actions are easy to blur together. They are separate efforts with different owners and different next steps.
- The shoulder restrictions came from a referral Supervisor Kate Daniels submitted July 21. On Sept. 22 the board voted to pursue an Emergency Coastal Development Permit for no-parking restrictions where the shoulders are narrow on the south side of the entrance. It also directed staff to work with Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol on stronger signage and higher fines.
- ParkIT!, the shuttle and reservation plan, cleared the Planning Commission on Oct. 14. Before it can operate, State Parks has to finish a final access-management plan that sets the reservation schedule and final numbers. Staff will bring that plan back to the commission on a date that has not been set.
The shoulder fix sounds like the faster of the two, and it is the one people tend to overestimate.
Why the Shoulders Look the Same in November
Monterey County NOW reported that Daniels kept the request narrow at the Sept. 22 meeting. "This isn't an attempt to make no parking south of the entrance," she said, describing places where "a car's tire is on the shoulder and there is foliage, trees, or fenceline on the other side," which leaves pedestrians walking in the road.
The county staff report states that the new restrictions cannot be installed or enforced until a coastal permit is in hand. It also notes that an emergency permit can last up to a year and has to be followed by a regular permit. Staff proposed reporting back to the board with a completed response before July 1, 2027. That date is a deadline to report, not a date when signs go up. The fine in existing no-parking zones was $28 as of the September meeting, and raising it is a separate conversation with Caltrans and the CHP.
Supervisor Chris Lopez raised the enforcement question at the same meeting. He noted that the Sheriff's Office is stretched thin and that park staff often get stuck inside the reserve because of the traffic. He also pointed to Bixby Bridge as an example of how hard it is to change visitor behavior. A no-parking zone only works if someone enforces it, and that concern was raised before the proposed new zone exists.
What ParkIT! Would Change at the Gate
The plan is the bigger change, and its numbers show where it is aimed. Monterey County NOW's Oct. 14 hearing report lists the proposed daily reservation slots, all subject to change in the final plan:
| How a visitor arrives | Proposed daily slots |
|---|---|
| Parking inside the reserve | 1,215 |
| Parking at Marathon Flats, then shuttle | 540 |
| On foot or by bicycle | 300 |
| Total | 2,055 |
Slots would be released in three batches. Half would open three to four months ahead, a quarter 48 to 72 hours ahead, and a quarter on the day of the visit. Up to 25 percent of walk-in and bike-in reservations would be free, on top of the existing free and reduced-cost access through library passes and Golden Bear passes. The $10 general admission fee now charged at the reserve could change. The report says it has not been confirmed whether the entry fee would stay the same.
The same-day quarter matters to anyone who decides to walk the Cypress Grove Trail on a clear morning. Spontaneous visits would still be possible under the proposal, but they would draw from a smaller pool than they do now.
Part of the Line Starts at Rio Road
The shuttle would start at Marathon Flats, near Highway 1 and Rio Road, which the Carmel Pine Cone places next to The Crossroads shopping center. The plan includes a 100-space lot there, plus fences and a ticket machine, along with bike racks.
Compare that with what exists today. Monterey County NOW reported about 360 total spaces in September, with roughly 160 inside the reserve and about 200 along Highway 1. The Point Lobos Foundation puts the reserve's own lot at 150 vehicles and advises against parking illegally on the shoulder or stopping in traffic lanes. Under the proposal, 540 of each day's visitors would park near Rio Road rather than on the coast. Those are visitors who would no longer be circling the reserve entrance looking for a gap on the shoulder.
The Problem Has Moved to Weekdays
The reason the county and State Parks are acting now is the change in when traffic happens. "What used to be primarily a weekend and summer holiday problem has become increasingly an everyday occurrence," Steffanie Gamecho, director of the ParkIT! project, told supervisors in September, as reported by Monterey County NOW. At the October hearing, George Nunez, West Division chief with Cal Fire's San Benito-Monterey Unit, put it this way, according to the outlet's hearing report: "There is traffic there constantly, daily. It's not weekends only. It is every day."
The visitation figures in the record do not agree. In its Sept. 22 coverage, Monterey County NOW reported more than 500,000 visitors a year, which it said was 85 percent over the capacity set in the reserve's 1979 General Plan. At the Oct. 14 hearing, John Hiles, manager of the Monterey Sector of State Parks, said visitation this year is expected to reach 1 million. One is a reported annual figure and the other is a forecast, and no year-end count has been published. Either way, the reserve is serving far more people than its own plan was written for.
The voices from the south coast at these meetings lined up mostly on one side. At the Aug. 3 meeting where the Carmel Highlands and Carmel Valley land use advisory committees advanced the plan, Highlands resident Sara Stone described gridlock on Highway 1 running in both directions, according to Monterey County NOW. In October, Steve Martin of the Mal Paso Creek Property Owners Association told the Planning Commission, "Our residents have witnessed the increasingly dangerous traffic and parking situation," as the Carmel Pine Cone reported. Rep. Jimmy Panetta and Supervisor Daniels have endorsed the plan. Representatives of the Big Sur Land Trust, Caltrans and emergency responders spoke in favor at the hearing.
What Could Still Reshape the Plan
The objections on the record are specific, and they point to where the plan could still change. A spokesperson for the California Coastal Commission and some nearby residents questioned whether the plan would preserve public access and deal with the underlying problems. One commenter raised flooding at Marathon Flats. County staff summarize the Commission's broader concern as keeping the maximum reasonable access at low or no cost. They also describe the standard permit path: a Planning Commission decision can be appealed to the Board of Supervisors, and the county's final action can then be appealed to the Coastal Commission.
Funding for the next stage is in place. Under SB 178, the trailer bill carried by State Sen. John Laird, $150,000 goes to State Parks for consultants and a comprehensive report on congestion, safety and access at the reserve. Commissioner Martha Diehl explained her vote this way, as quoted by Monterey County NOW: "We have the opportunity to try something rather than speculate how something might work."
The Reserve and the Road This Winter
Until the final access plan comes back, the reserve runs as it does now. California State Parks lists day-use hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., with last entry at 6:30 p.m. The Point Lobos Foundation lists a $10 entry fee per passenger car.
Neighbors heading south have one more thing to plan around this fall. Caltrans' Highway 1 road report for Oct. 23 lists one-way traffic control at Rocky Creek Bridge, 15.7 miles south of Monterey, through Nov. 30, and at Mud Creek through Nov. 13. Those dates come from a live report, so check it again before driving.
The next date that matters is the State Parks plan's return to the Planning Commission. It will include the reservation schedule and the final numbers, and it has not been calendared yet.
Cheryl Heyermann has followed traffic on the Highway 1 corridor south of Carmel for decades and keeps an eye on these hearings as they come up. If you would like to talk through how access changes at Point Lobos could affect a home along the south coast, Bramin Atler is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
