In the belly of the mountain at Devils Slide

By Julia Scott jscott@bayareanewsgroup.com Posted: 03/03/2010 06:14:08 PM PST Updated: 03/05/2010 01:25:28 PM PST

MONTARA — Being inside the tunnel at Devils Slide feels a little like being in an Indiana Jones movie — minus the terrifying killer boulders. 

More than 3,000 feet deep in San Pedro Mountain is an eerie, half-lit universe of grinding and pounding as machines scrape and drill and blast the rock apart. Hard-hatted workers carrying flashlights pass by in tall rubber boots and orange construction vests. Sparks punctuate the semi-darkness. Dripping water coats the ground, creating muddy currents that flow toward daylight.

Every day, workers at Devils Slide get 5 feet of rock closer to conquering the longest, most-ambitious tunnel project in modern California highway history. They detonate dangerous explosives, mine rock, lay rebar, spray concrete — over and over again, in rotating shifts 24 hours a day.

It's painstaking work, but well worth the rewards. Caltrans is 79 percent of the way through the mountain and is on schedule to break through to the north side of the mountain in late fall. Workers will then connect the tunnels to a cantilevered bridge that spans a valley in Pacifica

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Posted by Steve Sinai