Devil's Slide trail to opens March, 2014, volunteer guides will be interviewed and trained

Half Moon Bay Review/Julia Reis, 9/19/13. "Supervisors approve grant for Devil's Slide trail ambassadors.  Plan calls for volunteers to monitor recreation area."

Devil's Slide trail looking north

"The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors will accept a $15,000 grant from the California

Here's a map, stay away from the cliff, don't worry about bears

Coastal Conservancy for the Devil’s Slide trail ambassadors program if the conservancy board approves the expenditure at its meeting next month.  ....  More than half of the Coastal Conservancy grant would go toward two radios for volunteers so that they can communicate with park rangers.  The rest of the grant covers various types of equipment, such as vests, backpacks, first aid kits and brochures for volunteers to pass out.

....  The county will foot the bill for the recruitment and interview process of potential volunteers, as well as training about county parks and the Devil’s Slide site in particular. The grant will cover first aid and CPR training for 20 volunteers.

....   The Board of Supervisors approved nearly $2 million toward converting the highway into a public trail as part of the county’s 2012-13 budget."   Read article.  

Related article -  Coast View Magazine/Joe Devlin, 10/2012 edition, "The Devil's Slide California Coastal Trail." "The new leg of the California Coastal Trail is scheduled to occupy the 1.3 miles of Route 1 that will be closed to cars once the Devil’s Slide Tunnel opens. Caltrans promises to construct parking spaces, provide pedestrian and bike signals, and install trash cans, entry gates, water hookups, and a 4-foot-tall stainless steel cable fence on the cliff side of the trail to keep people on the trail without obstructing too much of the view. The California State Coastal Conservancy has pledged $500,000 to purchase and install bathrooms and other support facilities at the two ends of the tunnel. Once this work is done, ownership passes to the County of San Mateo Department of Parks, which has pledged another $2 million toward finalizing the park and hiring rangers to staff it.

Reference -  County of  San Mateo, Department of Parks, "Wild Places & Friendly Spaces."  That location news from  Devil's Slide coastal trail concept plan.  "Special Meeting to Consider Devil’s Slide Trail 90% Project Plans." " On August 29th, 2013, the San Mateo County Parks and Recreation Commission held a Special Meeting to consider the 90% project plans for the Devil’s Slide Trail Project."  The article includes the site concept  and presentation. Devil's Slide Coast Organization, includes an interactive area map.

Note  Photographs - Arial view of Devil's Slide from Caltrans,  KQED/Science, "The rocks of Devil's Slide."  Trail guide from Anthony's Audio Journal. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

The accident that stopped Highway 1 traffic Sunday, 7/19/15

Pacifica Tribune, 7/21/15, "Devil's Slide accident closed road." 

Tunnels, south side

"An accident just south of Devil's Slide tunnel quickly snarled traffic in both directions Sunday afternoon at 12:49 p.m.  A Chevrolet pick-up truck flipped over in the two-vehicle accident that also involved a Toyota Celica, said Officer Daniel Russo of California Highway Patrol. The Toyota Celica was moderately damaged, Russo said.

One driver with no obvious injury complained of general pain and was transported to the hospital by North County Fire Authority, Russo said. "When you experience a rollover, we like to make sure you are checked out by a doctor," Russo said.  The road was closed in both directions until the accident was cleared at 2:22 p.m."

Related article - CBS San Francisco local, 7/19/15,"Multi-car crash in Devil's slide Tunnel temporarily closes Highway 1"  ...."A Sig-alert was issued for Highway 1 in both directions at 1:35 p.m. It was cancelled at 2:22 p.m., however, traffic was still moving slowly, according to the CHP."

 Note photograph: Driving the south side of Devil's Slide/Tom Lantos tunnels is from Hippo blog/Devil's Slide. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Bicycle view riding down Devil's Slide Trail, and public transportation to the Park

Not racing you down this trail

View of the entire Trail.  "Coastsider joined the San Mateo County Parks Department’s media day for the new Devil’s Slide trail.  We recorded the descent from the top of the northern end of the slide to the south, coasting (almost) the whole way. We’ve added some notes to the video to give you some idea what the trip was like and what you’ll see on the trail. The video was recorded by Julia Parr, Age 12."  See bicycle view riding down Devil's Slide Trail by Julia Parr (video, 4:24 minutes).   Coastsider/Barry Parr, 3/25/14, "Video:  Coasting Devil's Slide."

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Public transportation.  "Parking at the new Devil’s Slide trail is limited, but there are two options for Coastsider who can’t drive there, or would prefer not to. 

Pacifica's weekend shuttle

SamTrans Route 17 has new bus stops at the trail’s head at the south end of the tunnel. Route 17 runs on Highway 1 between Pescadero and the Linda Mar Park and Ride lot in Pacifica. The new bus stops, on either side of Highway 1, are marked with new signs, which include bus stop identification numbers. The unique ID number can be used to get real-time bus departure information from 511 and 511.org.  Just call 511 and say “departures” and give the stop ID number.

The city of Pacifica offers a weekend shuttle which runs roughly hourly from various spots in town. See the schedule on the city’s website. The iPacifica app tracks the shuttle in real-time via GPS as it follows its route through 17 stops from the Devil’s Slide Trail at the south to Oceana Terrace / Good Shepherd in the north. More information is on the Devil’s Slide Ride Facebook Page."  Coastsider/Barry Parr, 3/27/14.  "SamTrans and Pacifica provide public transportation to the Devil's Slide trail." 

Note photographs - Bicycle riders on Devil's Slide Trail trail from a KQED/Science article, 3/25/14, and the transportation shuttle from the SamTrans/Pacifica route Coastsider article. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Highway 1 coastal road improvements will move ahead in Pacifica

Pacifica Tribune, Jim Wagner and Mark Stechbart, Guest Columnists, 3/26/13. "The takeaways from the Devil's Slide tunnel"

"What are the takeaways from the final completion of the Devil's Slide tunnel? Well, the button worn at Monday's tunnel opening says it all -- in Pacifica we are not finished with the Rt. 1 safety improvements. 

Think highway safety

One with the people

But the tunnel's long road to completion should be instructive in Pacifica's effort to fix a one-mile bottleneck on Rt. 1. Forty years to tunnel completion because way too many people argued is troubling.

The upside is the tunnel was completed in a very environmentally productive manner. Endangered species were protected and even moved to a larger, more protected site down the coast. Native California plant species were used in the landscaping. A large group of Bay Area elected officials from Congress and supervisor to city councils all assisted in the funding.

One with nature

The same geography that made Devil's Slide a funnel for coast traffic also affects Pacifica. We are defined by the same coast geography that funnels fully 50 percent of Pacifica traffic through the Rockaway-Vallemar stretch of road. When you have only one north-south road, safety becomes paramount.   

Even a Pacifican can figure it out

In discussions with elected officials and invited guests during Monday's tunnel opening, we came away with a renewed belief that Pacifica's safety improvements on Rt. 1 will continue to move ahead. Half Moon Bay is also making long-awaited improvements to their Rt.1 lifeline. The congested 92 and Rt. 1 intersection with Main Street has been vastly improved to everyone's relief.

So the real tunnel lesson? Say yes to a long overdue congestion and safety solution on a one-mile stretch of road that currently holds up thousands of Pacifica residents a day. We can improve this stretch of road in an environmentally conscious manner.

That is not only common sense but it's the law. We can draw upon the support of area-elected officials to secure the funding. The tunnel has shown us the way." 

These opinions are those of Mr. Wagner and Mr. Stechbart and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Pacifica Tribune.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

A little more work to do on Devil's Slide tunnels, almost there

Half Moon Bay Review/Julia Reis, 8/1/13.  "Devil's Slide overnight tunnel work to conclude next month." Construction was anticipated when tunnel opened in March. 

Devil's Slide tunnels opened 3/25/13 substantially complete

....:  "This additional work was a part of the original tunnel contract and anticipated when the tunnel opened on March 25, according to Caltrans spokesman Robert Haus. In an email, he wrote that some of the work that has been completed during overnight closures could not have been finished prior to traffic in the tunnels. Opening the tunnel later than March was not considered as an alternative to overnight work, Haus said.

“The construction of the cul-de-sac and parking areas, which are located along the existing Highway 1 alignment, could not be done until traffic was off the old road and into the tunnels,” Haus said. “There are also electrical conduits, light poles, and drainage facilities that had to be installed after tunnel opening, as the footprint of these items would have been in the existing Highway 1 roadway.”

Haus added that additional paving was required because the roadway alignment was not permanently set when the tunnel opened."   Read more.

Related Fix Pacifica Devil's Slide articles.  Note:  photograph from KQED, Quest, 3/25/13,"At last Devil's Slide Tunnels Open." The look back includes a drive through video, 1:09 minute.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Looking forward to Devil's Slide tunnel

 Another collision on Devil's Slide highway 1 

Another crash on the dangerous highway 1 Devil's Slide road.  When completed, the new tunnel construction should prevent some of these collisions.  

Half Moon Bay Review, Staff, 10/15/12. "Two injured in Devil's Slide crash."
"Two drivers were taken to the hospital on Monday morning following a head-on crash that completely shut down rush-hour traffic on Highway 1 at Devil’s Slide.

The crash occurred around 7:10 a.m. when a southbound vehicle crossed the yellow divider line into oncoming traffic, according to California Highway Patrol officials. The driver collided into a northbound car, and the wreckage impeded most of the two-lane highway.

This highway scares me too!

Traffic was completely halted on the highway for nearly an hour. CHP troopers began rerouting cars and directing one-way traffic around 8 a.m. Devil’s Slide was completely reopened at 8:30 a.m.
The northbound driver reportedly suffered a broken ankle and was taken to Stanford Medical Center. The southbound driver complained about aches and pains and was taken to Mills-Peninsula Hospital."

Note:  Photo above from a prior Half Moon Bay Patch,  Devil's Slide crash article, 8/21/11.

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Major progress on Devil's Slide tunnel

Michael Cabanatuan, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle Copyright San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Even on the most idyllic sunny day on the San Mateo County coast, it's chilly, dark, dusty, muddy and noisy deep inside San Pedro Mountain, where construction crews are digging twin tunnels to carry traffic around Devil's Slide.

But despite the gloomy atmosphere, workers are making major progress on the $325 million tunnel project, which includes a pair of arched bridges and an operations center. The buildings and the bridges are finished, and the tunnel diggers are expected to bust through the north end of the mountain by this fall. A little more than a year later, the finished tunnel should open to traffic.

No one will be happier than residents of the coastal communities who depend on that scenic but unstable stretch of Highway 1.

The Devil's Slide tunnel will be California's first highway tunnel built since 1964, when the third bore of the East Bay's Caldecott Tunnel opened. Tunneling is dirty and dangerous work, and progress is slow. Workers wear not only the usual hardhats, reflective vests and other construction safety gear, they also carry flashlights or headlamps, respirators and emergency "self rescue kits" that provide oxygen in the event of an accident like a gas leak, collapse, fire or power failure.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/19/MNUM1E1069.DTL#ixzz0rNEKhUl3

Posted by Steve Sinai

Tom Lantos tunnels at Devil's Slide open at the end of the month

Half Moon Bay Review/Clay Lambert, 3/12/13.  "Devil's Slide tunnels to open last week of March."

 Tom Lantos, 2/1/28 - 2/11/08

Inside a tunnel

"Twin tunnels at Devil’s Slide on Highway 1 will be opened to traffic on March 25 or 26. At 11 a.m. on March 25, dignitaries from across the state will converge with the locals who made it all happen to commemorate the state’s first tunnel proj ect in nearly 50 years. Later that day or early the next morning the tunnels will open to traffic, according to Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus. The state transportation agency made the announcement late Tuesday afternoon, though information on the opening has been leaking out for days.  

....  Moving forward with the tunnels hasn’t always been easy: Their journey has been fraught with controversy as interest groups advocated what they thought best. Some argued vehemently for an inland bypass as early as 1960. Environmentalists opposed that notion, arguing successfully that the tunnels would do the least damage to the area’s fragile ecosystem while guaranteeing a passable roadway.

Tunnels, Pacifica side

The tunnels that stand today were finally made possible in 1995 with the passage of the countywide Measure T. However, ground wasn’t broken for the project until 2005. Contractors from Kiewit Pacific Co. predicted that the entire project would be completed by 2011 for $272 million. The tunnels’ opening date is at least two years late and the final tab was tens of millions of dollars more than initially expected."  Read article.

Related articles -   Mercury News/Associated Press, 3/13/13.  "The tunnels cost $439 million to build and took seven years to complete." NBC Bay Area, 2/25/13, "Cutting-Edge Devil's Slide Tunnels Poised to open." The article includes a brief embedded video, lowe left side photograph from this article. The Daily News, 11/13/12, "Tunnel opening delayed," right side photograph from this article. Half Moon Bay Review, 7/9/08."Tunnels named for angel of Devil's Slide"  "The twin tunnels under construction at Devil's Slide will be named in honor of the congressman who worked for more than 20 years to find a solution to the Coastide's traffic troubles."   And, Fix Pacifica reprint articles.

Submitted by Jim Wagner

Posted by Kathy Meeh

Devil's Slide project sees daylight

SAN MATEO COUNTY, CA (KGO) -- A major achievement was reached in the Devil's Slide tunnel project and after three years of digging through solid rock, workers punched through on Friday. 

It basically completes the excavation work on the first of two tunnels, which will steer traffic away from Devil's Slide between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay.

Chunks of sprayed concrete fell away from the north portal as an Austrian tunneling machine chewed through from the other side.

Crews have been working for three years, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at a rate of about 10 feet a day to reach this point. The people of San Mateo County came to watch the fulfillment of a decades-long battle.

"I didn't know that this was going to happen when we started fighting the original plans for a bypass for Devil's Slide in 1972," says community tunnel advocate Lennie Roberts.

Highway 1 at Devil's Slide has never been a reliable route along the coast, closing routinely because of landslides and rockslides.

Coastal economies and families suffered with the tunnel, Pacifica will no longer have to be a cul-de-sac where cars turn around once a year in bad weather.

Read more...

Posted by Steve Sinai

Devil's Slide tunnels update

The tunnels will be open soon, which should also mean less rental revenue for Pacifica.

San Francisco Chronicle/Michale Cabanatuan, staff writer, 12/27/12. "Devil's Slide tunnels not ready yet."

"When it rains, the towering rocky hills and cliffs that hold Highway 1 high above the Pacific Ocean in San Mateo County start to slide.  That's how Devil's Slide earned its name, and it's why Caltrans is building the state's first highway tunnel in almost 50 years - to carry drivers safely around the precarious stretch of pavement that pulls toward the Pacific when it rains, causing many road closures, some that have lasted for months.

Soon goodbye to this part of highway 1 at Devil's Slide, photo 4/3/06 *

When the tunnels open, McHugh said, they'll deliver two big benefits to the San Mateo County coast, the most important of them a dependable highway. "The road will no longer go down every few years and turn us into the longest cul-de-sac in the world," she said.

The tunnels, she said, may also lure more visitors by eliminating a stretch of highway many drivers have considered too dangerous to brave for a weekend drive or a quick trip to the communities on the San Mateo County coast.

Bike riders and hikers will benefit, too. When the tunnels open, Caltrans will abandon the 1.2-mile stretch of Highway 1 and turn it over to San Mateo County, which will spend about nine months converting it into the first phase of the Devil's Slide Coastal Trail. Then it will be turned over to hikers and bikers. "It's a wonderful, beautiful view," McHugh said, "and we really don't get to see it while we're driving by."  Read article.  * Photograph from the article by David Paul Morris, 4/3/06.

Previous Fix Pacifica articles -  Devil's Slide.

Posted by Kathy Meeh