Erosion threat on Highway 1

With the San Mateo County coast becoming an increasingly attractive destination, deMoor said possible threats to the main thoroughfare in and out of the coast have become a concern for the communities situated along Highway 1. As winter and the rainy weather that comes with it draws nearer, deMoor said residents have been wondering when the cracks Caltrans has been monitoring since earlier this year will be addressed, a question Caltrans officials are hoping to answer by awarding an emergency contract to Gordon Ball, Inc. to bolster the cliff in the coming months.

“We just have this one critical highway on the coast,” said deMoor. “So it’s always important to make sure that it’s safe for locals and visitors.”

As the agency charged with maintaining Highway 1, Caltrans has been crafting designs for the construction project in recent months, said Jeff Weiss, a spokesman for the state agency. He said as soon as next week, those who drive on Highway 1 may see crews begin to clear brush from the edges of the highway to make way for more pavement on the northbound shoulder. By extending the road east, crews can create a staging area for construction equipment such as a crane, he said.

Because the work to build a retaining wall may require more than one lane of space, crews will largely work at night under one-way traffic control, noted Weiss. He said the crane will be used as a drill rig to create 3.5-foot-diameter holes into which steel cages will be placed and later filled with concrete, forming the building blocks of a retaining wall. Though Weiss acknowledged the traffic is light at night on that stretch of Highway 1, he noted the geography presented challenges for those planning the construction of the sequent wall, which is a type of retaining wall allowing crews to work from above the site.

“It’s a difficult place to work,” he said.

For deMoor, a March power outage that closed the Tom Lantos Tunnel just a few miles north of the soon-to-be construction site has underscored for residents how important Highway 1 is as an emergency escape route. As a board member for the community nonprofit Resist Density, de Moor and several other residents have been monitoring other changes being discussed for Highway 1 along with the effects of developments and the status of coastal infrastructure projects.

“We have such a unique situation on the coast,” she said. “With so many visitors, so much traffic … any road closure or when the tunnel closes, it’s a huge issue and a huge safety issue.”

Weiss also acknowledged the challenge of maintaining Highway 1 given the weather and wave patterns that have contributed to coastal erosion on that stretch of the road. He noted Caltrans is also working at night to replace two drainage pipes on Second Street in Montara and is completing a retaining wall on 14th Street in Montara in an effort to address other erosion issues.

“The sea cliffs are always eroding,” he said. “There’s lots of rain, lots of wind and wave action.”

anna@smdailyjournal.com

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