Devil's Slide Tunnels: Will They Save You Time?

This morning I attended a briefing about the Devil's Slide Tunnels presented by Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Charise Hale McHugh. I found her comment interesting that although the mile-long tunnels are the first to be built in California in the past 50 years, any notion that they will be timesavers is one of perception. She noted that not only are they replacing a two-lane road with a two-lane road, but also that the time it takes her to drive the coast road from portal to portal is 90 seconds. (And no traffic light at the south end!)

Alan Wald

Comments

[Chris Porter]

Peter, they would rather commute through Pacifica than go up 92 because of the reasons listed, but right now they don't like the "slim" lanes at the top of Devil's Slide. Once the tunnel is open and that area is removed, they will commute through Pacifica and, yes, in my estimation, the traffic will increase.

[Peter Loeb]

Chris, I don't follow. Are you saying that lots of people south of the slide don't commute over the slide now but will when the tunnels open? Are you also saying that they don't like going over 92 either? What do they do? Stay home?

[Chris Porter]

Hi, Peter: There are lots of El Granada people who would rather travel this way in the morning but do not care for the "slim" lanes at the top of Devil's Slide. I know because they are my customers and they have told me so. Also, they do not like the bottleneck by Half Moon Bay High School in the morning or the larger trucks on Highway 92.

[Peter Loeb]

Alan, are you saying that PERCEPTION will add lots of new traffic to the morning commute congestion? Increased traffic due to the tunnels is one of the arguments being used to justify the Highway 1 widening, to reduce the wait time in the morning backup. I don't understand how widening the highway between Rockaway and Vallemar, then narrowing it again at Vallemar, will reduce congestion. Everywhere that three lanes go down to two, it creates a backup. And I still don't understand how replacing a two-lane road with a two-lane road in a tunnel will add lots more traffic to the morning commute. Can PERCEPTION do that?

[Peter Loeb]

Wow. That coastal trail plan is certainly an eye-opener: 41 parking spaces, pedestrian signal lights, traffic signage, trash receptacles, guardrails, barriers, entry gates, water hookups, K rail, 4-foot-high fencing on the ocean side, 8-foot-high cyclone fencing on the hillside, restrooms at both ends of the trail, informational kiosks, benches and picnic tables, drinking fountains, coin-operated telescopes, 10 interpretive panels, repair of the existing asphalt road, staffing including three park rangers and three park aides, and daily maintenance. The price tag for all of this is an estimated one-time cost of just under $2 million, then a continuing annual operating cost of just under $700,000. Who will pay for this? And what happens when nobody can pay for it?

[Carl May]

Just as an additional indication of the consequences of having an irresponsible, growth-addled urban mind-set in charge of all things tunnels, check out the plans for the coastal "trail" on the decommissioned highway after the underground expressway is opened. Links are found on the Midcoast Community Council's website:
http://www.midcoastcommunitycouncil.org

[Carl May]

Commute traffic will be the same at first, certainly no reason to have three-lane backups rather than two-lane backups at Rockaway and Vallemar for the short, heavy commute period. Over a longer period of years, the tunnels will add to the county/SAMCEDA rationale for more urban residential development and some additional urban commercial development (Big Wave, for example, a multi-story, multi-building office park with 700 parking spaces approved by the county but up before the Coastal Commission on appeal). This population-growing scheme (developers call it a "vision") is set up in the Hill/Gordon (when they were county supes) LCP revision for the midcoast, if it is finally approved. The developer-desired and politician-pushed midcoast development will almost double the midcoast population, if fully implemented. It isn't unreasonable to imagine the one-third of midcoast commuters that goes north rather than over 92 will at least double in number with development already set up in planning documents.

Lots of other factors. The two tunnels are not sized for one lane in each direction. They are sized for two lanes each way. The notion that the two tunnels constitute a two-lane road is a semantic fantasy and just as factually incorrect as calling the now-dead three- to four-lane bypass on a five- to six-lane roadbed a two-lane road. The tunnels are the size of some tunnels now in use on four-lane interstate freeways (I-70, for one).

From bypass days, the design and engineering for a multi-lane highway from Linda Mar up to the bridges already exists. Outside the south portal, one of the four ridges that needed to be cut to have a four-lane highway down to Montara was cut for tunnel construction. And so on through many more details setting up a multi-lane highway from Pacifica to Montara. Just try to stop it as population growth puts more cars on the road over the long term. Nobody with any clout has been watchdogging and challenging the mess since the urban environmentalists decided to play kissy-face with Caltrans and the county politicians after the passage of Measure T. Like the frog in water that is slowly heated, we'll tolerate the slow decline in our quality of life. Except I'll be dead or retired out of here before the worst is in place, so I really mean you'll tolerate the slow decline in your quality of life. You have so far.

[Alan Wald]

Peter, that's exactly what will happen. The PERCEPTION across the Bay Area and around Northern California is that the tunnels will "open up" the Coastside. Especially on weekends, thousands of motorists traveling from Marin to Santa Cruz and vice versa, who previously would travel Highway 280 and Highway 17, will suddenly say, "Hey, now we can take the coast route." It's all about PERCEPTION!

[Peter Loeb]

I also find it interesting that a number of people say the tunnels will bring big increases in traffic. I’ve never understood why this would be so. If we’re replacing a two-lane road with a two-lane road, why would there be much additional traffic? Where would it come from? Are there hundreds of commuters who wouldn’t take the road across the slide who will now take the tunnels? Seems unlikely.