Lantos nets $150 million for Devil's Slide Project

The Department of Transportation is allocating $150,316,533 in construction money provided under the 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act. The act gives the department's emergency relief program funds to repair and reconstruct highways and roads on federal lands that have sustained serious damage as from natural disasters.

Devil's Slide is the steeply eroding coastal ridge between Pacifica and Half Moon Bay that includes a portion of Pacific Highway 1. Landslides, rock slides, and mudslides have severed this transportation artery many times since its construction in 1937, according to an announcement about the new funding.

Lantos began seeking remedies two decades ago after damage from El Niño closed the road for several months. This led to an initial $50 million in federal funds to create an alternative road. Studies showed that an above-ground bypass would not adequately protect the watersheds, wildlife, and scenic beauty of the site, and a consensus developed around a tunnel plan, which was affirmed by a ballot initiative in 1996 that won 71 percent of the vote, according to Lantos' office.

In 1998, Lantos included a provision in the Transportation Equity Act to ensure that the Devil's Slide project remained eligible for the federal funding he had worked to obtain.