In a fog-shrouded, invitation-only ceremony on March 25, 2013, hundreds of dignitaries, agency folks, and “tunnelistas” gathered to celebrate the opening of the Tom Lantos Tunnels at Devil’s Slide. This historic event was the culmination of many years of environmental advocacy.
For over 34 years, citizens and environmental groups resisted Caltrans’ original plans to build an environmentally devastating freeway around the unstable area of Highway One at Devil’s Slide between Pacifica and Montara. We believed that there was a less damaging alternative to this relic of 1960’s freeway design that would have devastated McNee Ranch State Park, impacted seven pristine coastal watersheds, and created a permanent scar on Montara Mountain. We and our partners filed several court challenges, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, attended hundreds of meetings, gathered over 30,000 signatures to qualify an initiative for the ballot, and ultimately convinced over 73% of San Mateo County’s voters to approve Measure T, the Tunnel Initiative (in 1996).
Looking back, here are some of the highlights:
Back in 1971, Green Foothills, Sierra Club, Save Our Shoreline, El Granada Residents Association, Local Initiative for the Environment, and several individuals went to court to stop Caltrans from building the environmentally destructive freeway bypass at Devil’s Slide. We won one of the earliest court decisions under a new law signed by President Nixon that required an Environmental Impact Statement to be prepared for federally funded projects. The court sided with environmental and community groups. Caltrans the Goliath, lost Round One against David the environmental groups.
Environmentalists and local residents on the coastside were jubilant at the time. But our jubilance was short lived. Caltrans kept their old Bypass plans on the shelf, and waited for an emergency. When the road slid out in 1983, they finished preparing the environmental report, and it looked like the Bypass would become a reality.
Green Foothills and Sierra Club, along with other groups, sued again. Once again the courts found Caltrans had not complied with the law, so Caltrans the Goliath, lost Round Two.
Another major slide in 1995 resulted in another highway closure. Caltrans stalled on the repair for five months, hoping to gain more support for building the freeway bypass. The economic hardship of having the road closed did indeed result in many coastal residents urging that the Bypass be built.
During this same time, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors asked a distinguished panel of engineers and geologists to advise them on the best long-term solution to the unstable Devil’s Slide area. This panel recommended building a tunnel as a safe, reliable, and permanent solution. Caltrans refused to consider the tunnel, and — knowing that we did not have enough political support from the Board of Supervisors — Green Foothills, Sierra Club, Citizens for the Tunnel and other groups gathered over 30,000 signatures to place Measure T on the ballot. In November, 1996, Measure T passed by a landslide 73% vote.
The most extraordinary outcome of this effort was the fact that all parties involved in this effort were able to sit down together to make the tunnel a reality. The environmental documents had to be updated, and the complex process of obtaining permits for the tunnel had to be accomplished. Thanks to Senators Boxer and Feinstein, and Congressman Tom Lantos, Federal Highway funds were obtained to pay for the state-of-the-art tunnel project.
The tunnel project broke ground in 2005 and the tunnel opened to the publish in March 2013. We feel an incredible sense of accomplishment and joy that the tunnel has been built, preserving the scenic mountains and hillsides, fertile farmlands,
and sensitive coastal wetlands and creeks of the San Mateo coast. Nearby McNee Ranch State Park, Montara State Beach, and the 4,000-acre Rancho Corral de Tierra addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area are now permanently preserved as parkland for all to enjoy. This sweet ending is a shining example of the power of thousands of people who worked together over a very long time and persevered against immense odds.
