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Over 151,000 voters said "Yes!" to Measure T. Caltrans has abandoned plans to build the bypass, and is committed to "fast-tracking" the tunnel!
Caltrans' $2.6M tunnel study is complete and online at the Caltrans web site.
Federal Highways says 58 feet is the minimum tunnel width. Read their letter here.
Tunnel Initiative, the complete wording.
A response to the 1-Dec-95 Chronicle EDITORIAL -- A Devil's Slide Challenge (click here and search on Devil Slide).
Tunnel Times
The Save Our Coast / Citizens' Alliance for the Tunnel Solution newsletter.
Lots of information about the tunnel and the initiative these groups have recently filed.
Federal Highways has a response to the County Supervisors' letter about the tunnel study.
Want to know more about the history of the area? Here's an excellent historical report sent to us by June Morrall.
Tunnel Initiative effort begins. This press release has all the details! The San Jose Mercury News also has a story with more background.
OLD NEWS! Tunnel planned -- These stories in the Half Moon Bay Review will surprise you.
A variety of new post-Bypass pictures have arrived.
Click on any of these to see a larger view.
Don't miss the Mid-Coast Election page, everything (and more) that you might want to assemble to equip yourself for the upcoming election.
OLD NEWS: This not just in -- First auto drives over new county highway.
Have you read our letters page recently?
Want to see Caltrans' plans for the freeway bypass? Thanks to the California Public Records Act, the Pacifica Library now has the complete 1986 Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS and E) available for your inspection. Caltrans is preparing a revision to this document, but they refuse to release their current work. While their refusal raises legal questions, the 1986 PS and E provides a wealth of data, and shows, in great detail, what they have in mind for the mountain. We'll see about getting some of the PS and E online, but the three solid inches of paper are best viewed in their entirety at the library.
Caltrans has agreed to study a tunnel, yet they have said "a tunnel is too expensive" before even beginning their study. Tunnel proponents surmise that Caltrans is inflating the cost of their tunnel estimate. To support this notion, they point out the Caltrans Devil's Slide tunnel is 66 feet wide, yet the top deck of the Bay Bridge is five 12 foot lanes plus two 2 foot shoulders = 64 feet, and they ask:
Why does Highway One need to be wider than the top deck of the Bay Bridge?
The Federal Highway Administration has asked Caltrans to check out a tunnel. These three newspapers have articles on it: Half Moon Bay Review, The Mercury News, and The Chronicle.
Montara Mountain meets Virtual Reality. Interact with a 360-degree view from high on the mountain with this interactive VR view.
It's a little like looking in a mirror, sometimes, out here on the Web. Congressman Tom Lantos' home page points right back here at us!
Environmental consultant Gary Deghi describes the permitting process for the bypass.
Here's a picture of a resident of the mountain. While Caltrans has known about it for over a year, they didn't bother to mention it until a couple of local residents went and took some pictures. That might not be a big deal, except that this resident is scheduled for addition to the endangered species list, and is the principal food of the San Francisco garter snake, already on the endangered list.
Caltrans's response to a California Public Records Act request for information. It's a bit light on details. We've crosslinked all of the references for your ease of reading.
Here's a response and information request based on the Caltrans/FHWA FEIS. It details many concerns about the document.
Pacifican Bruce Hallman discusses funding and tunnels in a letter to The Pacifica Tribune.
Here's another citizen response to the Caltrans/FHWA FEIS. It details many concerns about the document.
Caltrans has completed their environmental impact statement/report (FEIS). Caltrans included new material (8 pages) on a tunnel alternative. Read all 8 pages on tunnels right here.
In response to a specific request under the California Public Records Act, Caltrans sent 30 pages of materials to Pacifican Mitch Reid. This constitutes their response to his request for all documents relating to tunnel alternatives. Click here to see all of the materials from Caltrans.
Even more updated contact information for our elected officials and interested groups. We now have information for the Mid-Coast Community Council, Army Corps of Engineers, the Metropolitan Transportation Committee, the California Coastal Commission, and others.
Does the freeway bypass have unstoppable momentum? Skid Hall, permitting consultant, describes some of the permitting steps on the path to any permanent solution.
Fog on the mountain? See the report below which includes the results of a one-year study.
We've got the now-famous Engineer's Report right here. Don't worry, it's in plain English and is quite readable.
Check out the map of the two major proposed routes below.
Caltrans has released their Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS). This Half Moon Bay Review article has the story. Now they say a tunnel will run $127 million (up $7 million from their last estimate), and the bypass freeway is up to $82 million (that's up $13 million in just one week for those keeping score).
This Half Moon Bay Review article has the details of Devil's Slide reopening festivities.
Caltrans says $120 million for a tunnel. Some disagree. This Half Moon Bay Review article has the details.
Read what the Half Moon Bay Review had to say about our web site! We're serving up web pages more often than ever before as a result. Even the San Mateo Times had something to say about it!
Caltrans Devil's Slide Project web page
Want to see what Caltrans has on their plate? Here are some projects they have planned for the Montara and coastside areas.
Caltrans (FEIS) 8 pages of new material on a tunnel alternative.
Caltrans has a history of withholding information that would detail their plans. Even the California State Assembly has trouble getting Caltrans information for review.
Caltrans says they haven't studied a tunnel bypass option enough to be able to offer a recommendation. This 1993 Caltrans memo makes for interesting reading.
A recent view (24K) of the 150 feet of slipped roadway. And here's another view (21K).For some background, here are previous Half Moon Bay Review Headlines and Letters, as well as other earlier news bits. The San Mateo Times also has some articles, and here's a sample.
We have many excellent letters to the Review here online. See below.
"A tunnel will never be built in my lifetime." -- Caltrans spokesman at the MCCC meeting March 21st.
Citizens for the Tunnel, Pacificans for the Tunnel Alternative for Hwy 1 (PTA1), and twenty seven environmental groups prefer examining the feasibility of a tunnel to bypass the slide. Even the Federal Highway Administration wants to know whether it's a better alternative.
Check out this page to learn a great deal more about the alternatives, including what they might look like, how much they might cost, and much, much more!
We have lots of letters.
Links to other places of interest have gotten large enough that we've put them on their own page.Here's an excellent historical report sent to us by June Morrall.
OLD NEWS! Tunnel planned -- These stories in the Half Moon Bay Review will surprise you.
OLD NEWS: This not just in -- First auto drives over new county highway.
More on Montara
Where is it? Why, at 37.53N 122.50W, of course! Or more specifically.
The 1980 census found 1972 people living in Montara. By 1990, it had reached 2552 people living in 947 housing units. Our one and only zip code is 94037.
Here's an even better map of Montara, complete with streets!
Here's one with street names (34K).
Rather see a browsable photo of the area just to the south instead? Pillar Point will be at the upper left of the picture. Click there and zoom in a for a closeup spy photo!
Feeling particularly curious? How about a dumpster diving trip through the latest census data on Montara?
Living on the Pacific Coast, we're naturally pretty interested in coastal resources.
Finally, people outside of California seem to have a fascination with earthquakes, so have a look and see if we shook today.
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