Route conditions from King City to Morro Bay

I took a quick trip to San Luis Obispo this weekend, so of course I checked out some of the more "colorful" parts of the ALC route along the way to see whether road conditions have changed since June.

King City: Construction on First Street is progressing very, very slowly, and the only southbound bike route out of town continues to be closed while a bridge is rebuilt. From the looks of things, I'd say it's quite unlikely that the street will be reopened in time for ALC8, so we might get to use the same route we did this year (the pedestrian bridge over the river). Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. (At right: First Street in King City)

US 101, Bradley to San Miguel: There has been no work on the shoulder, and it continues to be in horrid condition. This 2 to 3 miles is my least favorite part of the whole route now. There's a project to do guardrail work in the area between January and April, but it's unclear whether they're going to do anything to that awful, awful shoulder. Perhaps we will get lucky.
Update: Caltrans appears to be creating a separate project to cover resurfacing of the highway through this area:

In Monterey County about 20 miles north of Paso Robles from 0.3 mile south of East Garrison overcrossing to 0.1 mile south of Jolon Road undercrossing: Hot mix asphalt overlay

The bad news is that the project isn't even being advertised for bids until March 23. That means that nothing will happen in time for this year's ride.

San Miguel: Good news!! Our route through town has been completely repaved from end to end, with nice smooth pavement and marked bike lanes all the way from U.S. 101 right through town and to the mission. (At right: Mission San Miguel)

Paso Robles: Our route out of town along Vine Street is still in the same poor shape it was for ALC7.

Morro Bay: Construction on Quintana Road, our route out of town, continues. One of the intersections is being transformed into a roundabout, and it appears that the street will be safer once it's complete. And work is far enough along that it will probably be done before we pass through.

As always, remember that the ALC route could change from year to year, so there's no guarantee that any or all of these places will be on the route. But we're so established now that, barring major construction (such as in King City) or other incident (such as losing permission to ride through an area), significant changes to the route probably are unlikely.