News Subscribe to Our Newsletter Sign up for Email Updates CGF In the News Press Inquiries Past Articles Calendar			San Francisco Examiner May 27, 2004   Devil's Slide plan  approved Tunnel will bypass  dangerous stretch of Highway 1 By Justin Nyberg REDWOOD CITY -- After more than 50 years of rockslides, spectacular crashes and periodic closures, the San Mateo County Planning Commission unanimously approved plans Wednesday for a tunnel that will bypass the dangerous cliffside section of U.S. Highway 1, better known as Devil's Slide. The $230 million plans call for two 30-foot-wide bores stretching about 4,000 feet to be built through San Pedro Mountain, with a pair of 1,000-foot bridges on either side. Construction is expected to take five years and could begin as early as the fall of 2004.  "It's hard to describe what a momentous decision  this is," said Lennie Roberts,  a legislative advocate for the Committee for  Green Foothills. The group sued in 1971 to stop an original plan to  build an overland bypass road  through the area and has been pushing for a tunnel ever since. "It certainly  has taken longer than anyone has expected," Roberts said. Since the road's construction in the 1930s, it has become one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the Bay Area as well as a critical link for the communities along the county's northern coast, including Montara, Moss Beach and El Granada. Without the road, drivers could only access the area via Highway 92, which runs through Half Moon Bay several miles to the south. "If the Slide goes out, we live on the world's largest cul-de-sac," said Montara resident Charles Gardener. "This is the right project for the community. This is the right project for the county." A major rockslide in January 1995 shut down the road for more than three months and launched a $1.5 million Caltrans effort to temporarily stabilize the cliff.  San Mateo County voters approved the tunnel  proposal in 1996, setting aside an alternative overland bypass proposal  by a 76 percent margin. The project got a nod from the Federal Highway Administration in 2002 and still awaits approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and wildlife regulatory agencies. Opponents of the plan have pledged to appeal the Planning Commission's decision to the county Board of Supervisors and eventually to the California Coastal Commission, which regulates coastal projects if need be. Most of those present at the Planning Commission meeting spoke in favor of the project. Two geologists spoke against the project, saying the existing Devil's Slide roadway could be stabilized by using wells to drain water from the rock at a fraction of the tunnel's cost. Vic Abadie, one of the two geologists, also warned about the seismic dangers of building such a long tunnel close to two geologic fault lines, one of which passes directly through the tunnel. "I am not sure if anyone has considered the potential risks of the San Pedro Fault running right through the tunnel alignment," Adabie said. Tom Whitman, the senior engineering geologist with the state, said that the faults were no longer active and that the well idea had been extensively studied by Caltrans and was simply not feasible. "I have every confidence this will be a world-class tunnel and an example of what can happen when the environmental community and Caltrans shake hands and move forward to a transportation solution," said Zoe Kersteen-Tucker, spokeswoman for the Citizens' Alliance for the Tunnel. Page last updated June 4, 2004 .