Big news! Caltrans Selects 6,000-Foot Tunnel to Go Around Last Chance Grade
Last Chance Grade tunnel option [Artist’s conception from Caltrans]
In a significant step toward securing a long-term solution at Last Chance Grade, Caltrans has selected a preferred alternative that could pave the way for constructing a tunnel along U.S. 101 in Del Norte County.
This coastal stretch of highway south of Crescent City has long been marred by landslide activity and indefinite maintenance costs. As a vital artery connecting Del Norte County with its neighbors, any closure of U.S. 101 at Last Chance Grade has far-reaching economic and service consequences.
Caltrans has selected Alternative F, a 6,000-foot tunnel that bypasses area landslides and realigns the highway, in a move that is essential to advancing the Last Chance Grade Project efficiently. The proposed tunnel would be the longest constructed in Caltrans history.
Close collaboration with tribes, environmental groups, lawmakers, and other stakeholders resulted in a decision that maximizes long-term reliability. With construction estimated to cost around $2.1B in 2031 dollars, the tunnel avoids chronic landslides, coastal erosion, and the impacts of climate change while ensuring safety during seismic events. While the option presents challenges due to the sensitive environment and potential impacts on large-diameter, old-growth redwood trees, Caltrans is committed to delivering a successful project through partnership, community support, and collaborative mitigation efforts, exploring all avenues to stay on schedule while prioritizing quality, efficiency, and preservation.
Alternative X, which wasn’t selected, involved re-engineering the existing route in the hopes it would be resilient among the area’s mapped landslides.
Caltrans continues to seek all possible funding opportunities to realize this project. The project has remained on schedule and on budget and the project team is on track to finalize its environmental document by late 2025. Further design refinements would occur in the coming years. To keep on track, the project would need to fund design, support, right-of-way acquisition, and other costs by December 2025, and it would need to fund construction costs by 2029. If all goes according to plan, construction could begin as early as 2030. If that happens, the tunnel could be open as early as 2038, however, Caltrans is looking for any and all opportunities to accelerate this timeline.
Caltrans remains appreciative to stakeholders and leaders for their support in this timely and important decision.
A solution at Last Chance Grade has been desired for decades. The announcement of a preferred alternative follows the February release of the project’s Draft Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS), including a Draft Section 4(f) Evaluation. These documents were the culmination of extensive engineering and scientific studies, strengthened by far-reaching collaboration.
“The selection of Alternative F is a testament to our commitment to providing a reliable long-term solution for Last Chance Grade,” said Caltrans District 1 Director Matt Brady. “We are grateful for the support of our community and partners, and we are confident that together, we can overcome the challenges ahead and deliver this critical project for the people of the region and the state of California.”
“Caltrans has diligently pursued a stakeholder-guided process with tribes, community representatives, environmental groups, agencies, and business interests to arrive at the best possible option for this landslide-plagued stretch of U.S. Highway 101,” said U.S. Congressman Jared Huffman, who convened the Last Chance Grade Huffman Stakeholder Group in 2014. “These efforts have presented an option that is the safest and most reliable alternative for Last Chance Grade. I will continue to work tirelessly to ensure North Coast residents get the best project they can as we move toward funding and construction.”
“This bold alternative was chosen after much research and stakeholder involvement and will the most reliable solution in the long run,” said California Assemblymember Jim Wood. “I appreciate all the work that Caltrans and their many partners have done to move this crucial project along and I look forward to its eventual completion.”
“After many generations of Del Norte County citizens traversing this fabled, continuously failing section of our state highway system, we have reached the conclusion to construct a tunnel with broad agreement among regional stakeholders,” said Del Norte County Supervisor Chris Howard. “Del Norte County is grateful to our community, tribal, environmental, and agency partners that have dedicated many years to finding a path forward.”
“After decades of inaction, the Last Chance Grade permanent improvement project is on the move,” said California Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire. “The decision to advance with a tunnel will finally give Del Norte the safe and secure passage on Highway 101 that the community has long deserved. Building this tunnel will be a feat in engineering that also protects the old-growth redwoods that have grown for centuries at this World Heritage Site and treats ancestral lands and cultural sites with the utmost care and sensitivity. This decision is an incredible milestone for Caltrans District 1 and represents six years of intensive collaboration and analysis. We owe huge gratitude to Del Norte neighbors for their patience along with city, county leaders, and tribal leaders, local environmental leaders, the State of California, and the federal government who have been working overtime to get this job across the finish line.”
For more information about the Last Chance Grade Project, visit LastChanceGrade.com.
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I will believe it when construction actually starts…. And the new delays it will bring to all involved
If all goes well (according to the rosy press release) construction will begin in 2030 with the ribbon cutting forecast for 2038.
And although I think Huffman is an effective representative (we’ve done worse) I wouldn’t be bragging about convening the “Last Chance Grade Huffman Stakeholder Group” – in 2014!
He is not a representative of our interest here in Humboldt. That was made clear by his work in diverting our water the the southerners.
He didn’t divert the water, that started decades ago. You should research how water rights work.
You should research how the new pumps will work…
It’s not going to be just a diversion anymore…
The new pumps will be necessary to force the water up and out of its natural course.
That has yet to begin…
It will be a very different method of water transfer…
It’s conceivable that just the new location of impoundment and intake, and the associated distance to and from the proposed pumps to the existing tunnel would require NEW water rights that DON’T currently exist, not to mention the new water rights necessary for the new, very different method of pump transfer…
These must not be approved.
They can always have a mechanical malfunction.
Yes, let’s avoid doing things because there might be a technical malfunction. That path leads back to the caves.
Oh yes, he did. He promoted it. Follow the money.
Regardless….. If Mother nature put the water in one valley it doesn’t give “Man” the right to take it away and to give it to another (special Interest group) valley that is more afraid than the first. Come on now most of California is a semi arrid desert with about 40 million extra souls attempting to live in a desert…. Just like the Sacramento River it is diverted, or was, to farmers. And the Central Valley Irrigation Canal that loses 2 times more water , via evaporation, than it delivers…. Why not cover that canal from starting point to end point to assist with the electrical needs being DEMANDED by the Gooberment by 2035…. That makes more sense than that stupid slow train to now where
As noted by “suspense”, Huffman hasn’t diverted any water – the diversion began nearly 120 years ago.
Huffman has led a stakeholder process among all the government agencies, the environmental groups and the Tribes that’s resulted in a consensus that the dams are coming down and in return there’s the potential for ongoing diversion of a small fraction of high winter flows.
As I’ve said before, this is a huge victory for Eel River fisheries restoration as it opens up the most valuable habitat in the entire Eel River system.
Huffman wasn’t even a twinkle in his mothers eye, in fact his mother may not have even been born when the California aqua duct was started.
The only thing he is effective at is representing the southern half of his district as it has all of the big money to fill his pockets with. What has he done for Humboldt in his term..(s)…?
I can’t think of one thing . Just another politician supporting the purse strings.
It’s going to be great! Danco is building it…!
This is the worst of all choices. A tunnel in this unstable area is ridiculous and will move along with the hillside.
Jesus dude, you’re bizarrely uninformed sometimes.
A tunnel is one of the better ways to evade this kind of perennial landslide. The bedrock isn’t sliding, it’s actually moving the other direction with seismic activity.
This is the sort of mindless response that so many make in comments. You don’t think tunnels collapse in earthquakes? Bedrock is not the point. Earthquakes have depths of kilometers. They do.
So instead of being eager to use this as an opportunity to tick off someone who you have disagreed in the past, maybe look in the safety issues and give real information. Because the first thing that occurred to me is that I wouldn’t want to be in a tunnel when a quake hits either.
Yep, there are safety concerns to be addressed around tunnels and earthquakes.
That has nothing to do with the persistent landslides that plague this stretch of surface road. Those landslides are not the result of earthquakes.
As noted elsewhere in this comment section, this is not going to be the first or the longest tunnel in active earthquake zones. If it is something that is so concerning for you then you’ll still have the long way around that avoids any tunnels.
But ol country Joe didn’t reference earthquakes in their comment, so I’m not sure why that’s what you focused on
Because what he said was not unreasonable. So why the huge level of snark to drag the comments into the junior high school yard pile on that followed? And yes, I am personally at a low spot due to the utter insanity of our current state of politics and have even less than my normal tolerance for crap.
It is unreasonable though. In fact it’s nonsense. It’s the opposite of accurate.
Sorry to hear you’re having a hard time. It’s probably best to just avoid social media and news if it’s impacting you so much.
You didn’t mention earthquakes at all. The instability that plagues that stretch of road has nothing to do with earthquakes. And a tunnel is actually a solution to the constant loss of functionality of that stretch of road.
If you’re going to declare that all infrastructure must only proceed if it’s durable against the worst possible earthquakes then we should eliminate all human constructions along the entire west coast. Effectively none of it will be durable against a 9+ earthquake.
You know how many tunnels exist around the world that are far longer and in the same environmental and geological hot zones? A lot. This project needs to move faster, not slower. And you have a microscopic chance of being in that tunnel at the very minute it takes to traverse it when a tunnel collapse or major damage-causing quake happens. But don’t let your own fears of microscopic chances stand in the way. It’s not like there isn’t an army of engineers and safety consultants on the payrolls to figure these things out or anything. Go another way if you have the jitters.
Yes. Unlike many commenting here, I routinely check to see if what I think is reasonable. It is not an “unlikely event.” Where we live its a certainty. Sooner or later.
“Rescuers in Taiwan scrambled to free dozens of people trapped in highway tunnels after the island was struck by its strongest earthquake in 25 years Wednesday, killing at least nine and injuring more than 900 others.”
And a 7.4 is not that big by our standards.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/02/asia/taiwan-earthquake-tsunami-warning-intl-hnk/index.html
You should write to CalTrans to inform them that we get earthquakes here.
You know, in case their engineers haven’t already considered that.
Earthquakes are simultaneously inevitable and unlikely in our area.
Over a sufficiently long time frame they are inevitable, and at any given single moment or even single month they are unlikely.
If the risk posed by the inevitable earthquake along the subduction zone is a serious concern of yours then this is the worst possible place to live. You have an astonishingly large range of places you could live that do not face this risk
Why do you seem to be compelled to make everything a personal attack? If you bothered to read, I have never said anything about the actual project. Only about pettiness of the responses. It seems that any interest in opposing views is a red flag depending on who makes them.
If you have any real information on earthquake safety of this, just give it. I think that would be of interest.
Don’t get snarky with me over an opposing opinion.
It’s not about an opposing opinion. I don’t care if you think the tunnel is a bad or good idea. Just be accurate about the basics.
A tunnel does avoid the persistent slide that has plagued that stretch of road for decades. So opposing it because it “will just move with the rest of the hillside” is opposition based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the topic.
Remember this conversation sometime around 2038 and that I told you so. You’re ignoring the basics. You people are so misinformed it’s bizarre as this is nothing more than a dangerous political decision.
well, i agree that an earthquake will not be a fun ride inside that tunnel. Besides, if the area can be made stable in earthquakes by finding the bedrock to travel through, then that bedrock can hold a bridge that runs on the current alignment and prevents destroying a bunch of ancient trees. And preserves the beauty of the current viewshed.
Dream on.
Weird how confidence and ignorance go hand in hand. You know nothing of the subject yet make a bold claim.
Agreed. The Dunning-Kruger effect describes this interesting condition: high confidence combined with ignorance of the subject: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
Sounds like every Democrat voter I run into, ie, climate change, taxes, military, war, transportation, healthcare……Go figure.
The Tunnel Engineers have spoken…
Interesting read. Thanks for that!
That has been trotted out so many times on this site by the snarkmasters of RHBB on all sorts of issues that it’s surprising you haven’t read it previously. It’s used by people of limited competence themselves to belittle others.
In fact as the link itself reads “In popular culture, the Dunning–Kruger effect is often misunderstood as a claim about general overconfidence of people with low intelligence instead of specific overconfidence of people unskilled at a particular task.”
??,
I already know as much as I need to know about the Dunning-Kruger Effect, let me tell you…!!!
?♂️?
Biden is personally familiar with the Dunning-Kruger effect along with you and your ilk.
There are no facts in your post. That’s the problem with it.
Facts get in the way of beliefs.
lol is a perfect name for you. I have forgotten more than you’ll even know on this subject. If you don’t like my post ignore it.
Anybody see if it is designed for a 9.2 earthquake? Nothing says bad engineering that doesn’t take that into full account.
As for the call for doing it because..climate change. Have to be some sort of no minds to realize we are a very itsie tinnie bit of the issue. Take this year’s temp increases. Blame it on humans? No. In 2022 there was mother nature doing her best to wreak havok for up to seven years… Water, not cow farts or you breathing is the most radiative forcing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
Geophys Res Lett. 2022 Jul 16; 49(13): e2022GL099381.
Published online 2022 Jul 1. doi: 10.1029/2022GL099381
PMCID: PMC9285945
PMID: 35865735
The Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha’apai Hydration of the Stratosphere
L. Millán, 1 M. L. Santee, 1 A. Lambert, 1 N. J. Livesey, 1 F. Werner, 1 M. J. Schwartz, 1 H. C. Pumphrey, 2 G. L. Manney, 3 , 4 Y. Wang, 1 , 5 H. Su, 1 L. Wu, 1 W. G. Read, 1 and L. Froidevaux 1
Abstract
Following the 15 January 2022 Hunga Tonga‐Hunga Ha’apai eruption, several trace gases measured by the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) displayed anomalous stratospheric values. Trajectories and radiance simulations confirm that the H2O, SO2, and HCl enhancements were injected by the eruption. In comparison with those from previous eruptions, the SO2 and HCl mass injections were unexceptional, although they reached higher altitudes. In contrast, the H2O injection was unprecedented in both magnitude (far exceeding any previous values in the 17‐year MLS record) and altitude (penetrating into the mesosphere). We estimate the mass of H2O injected into the stratosphere to be 146 ± 5 Tg, or ∼10% of the stratospheric burden. It may take several years for the H2O plume to dissipate. This eruption could impact climate not through surface cooling due to sulfate aerosols, but rather through surface warming due to the radiative forcing from the excess stratospheric H2O.
The climate started warming before the volcano.
Blaming it on that is silliness.
And what was it doing before that?
based on daily temperature data that humans have been collecting for ~160 years it’s getting warmer. For me, intuitively, it’s hard to imagine that burning 100 million barrels of oil/day for 50+ years wouldn’t have some impact.
If old family diary entries are to be believed, it’s been getting slowly drier, with much less fog, and the hot-cold differentials are getting wider, at least since the late 1870s. And at a progressively higher rate since the 30s, and again in the 70s. And not for the better. Global industrial changes and consumers of it have been pushing climate variations for a lot longer than people think.
Actually the rainfall is the same here. And the earth has been coming out of the ice age and warming for 12000 years. As an aside, this tunnel will cut five minutes off the trip for billions of dollars.
Your name suggest that you’re from around here,
but your comment suggests that you’re not.
Our planet is still coming out of the last ice age.
Wow over a mile long and underground in the Cascadia subduction. It’s delusional…
Uh, you do realize there are much longer tunnels going under and within the Bay Area, right next to the San Andreas fault, and several others capable of producing major quakes? BART has been using them for a few decades now. Take 299 then if you’re afraid of tunnels.
So no one should raise questions about safety because a San Francisco government entity uses them? No wonder there’s so many conspiracy theories around. And so many who feel railroaded by government and their coercing minions. People are more interested in puffing themselves up by ridiculing others than by actual debate to learn.
They did. Those tunnels have also been in continuous use for what, almost 60 years now? Hell the Robin Williams tunnel on the north side of the Golden Gate has been around since it opened. Guess what? Still there. Not a conspiracy. Go have a look see yourself. I’ll use the tunnel the day it opens. Why? Because I’m not afraid to travel.
It’s hard to argue with armchair engineers.
And by hard, I mean pointless.
Who is being railroaded in this case?
The various options for solving this long standing issue on the 101 have been being evaluated and considered for years at this point.
Apples and Oranges analogy.
How is the comparison to other tunnels in seismic hot spots apples and oranges?
This is much more than a seismic hot spot.
What else is it?
Seismic hot spots occur at three types of plate boundaries—divergent, convergent, and transform.
Stevo, thank you for this comment. I printed it framed it and hung it on my wall.
Unfortunately real science does not stand a chance against ignorance. Some people think that everything is human caused. They are still trying to figure out how man caused all these volcanoes. The recent sunspots are still confusing them, but rest assured that they will find that they are human caused.
However, I am dead set against man caused pollution and we should do whatever we can to reasonably reduce it. Maybe we can start by convincing people that we don’t need so many babies.
Eight years under construction! Typically, about half of a project’s cost is labor, so over a $billion going into wages.
Maybe C/R can offer classes in carpentry and ironwork.
Might be a good time to own an RV Park or campground nearby. Maybe some food truck owner can get permission from the state to park up there, and get rich selling burritos (or burgers, lol) to the carpenters & ironworkers.
Yeah. If they’re gonna do it, best that as much money as possible goes into LOCAL hands!
C/R does offer them. You can be certified in both in 1-2 semesters. http://redwoods.edu/Short-Term-Certificates.html Both the Eureka and Crescent City campuses offer them.
Yup.
—
Permanent always-on ventilation system.
Permanent Lighting.
Permanent maintenance station (always manned).
Might end up like the 11 billion dollar ‘High Speed Railway’ bridge to nowhere.
But I dunno.
—
Go figure.
Good point. We do get power outages. A mile long tunnel in the dark sounds sketchy. I love old-growth redwoods, but I think somewhere on the surface, away from the unstable cliffs, would be a better option in the LONG run.
Maybe they can put some kind of battery operated lights on the cars before they drive through it, in case the power goes out.
Hahahaha!
Right, every one can pull over at the 24/7 light attachment stations going in the tunnel and the light retrieval stations coming out.
Shouldn’t delay traffic or cost too much for 24/7 staffing.
OTOH, why not just turn on the headlights?
Yep. It wouldn’t be any different than driving through the middle of the redwoods anywhere else along the highway. No lights there either. Plus fog.
An unventilated mile-long tunnel might get a bit stuffy even if they ban diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles.
Being that it’s a US (crosses state lines) highway, a complete ban will never happen. But they are ventilated. By law it’s part of the construction. Traffic just moving creates a vaccuum of sorts so that helps too.
Whoooosh
That was that joke flying right over your head
Maybe, maybe not given the frequency of preposterous ideas advanced by RHBB commenters.
But I am the most literal minded person I know so it’s not that difficult to pull my leg.
The joke is that all cars are already equipped with battery powered lights. We usually call them headlights
Like the dangers of Dihydrogen monoxide. 🙂
That stuff is responsible for many thousands of deaths every year.
Not to mention, it’s highly addictive.
I find that I can’t do without it. However, it makes a great solvent.
“No Joke” hasn’t spoke – more preposterous things have been trotted out by RHBB commenters – but revel in the glory of seeing someone get over on me for possibly the second time in history if doing so floats your boat – I’d be more concerned if anyone was able to chip away at the unassailable truth that’s the bedrock of my comments. :o)
Because 101 is not a State Route but a US Highway there are regulations governing the radius of turns, road and shoulder widths, etc. Basically, there isn’t enough ground to reroute the highway on the Wilson Creek side of the mountain. Plus, multiple property owners, old growth, tribes all complicate the above ground option. The tunnel is the only way to get an alternate route around Last Chance. Funny how the press release says “best option”, it’s literally the only option.
Rerouting the highway is the only and best options.
back up generators
Del Norte Car Club
Last Chance collaboration
Six acre indo
People in Crescent City don’t consider it “nowhere”.
I think they do
and homeless dodging
lol …all made in China
You’re on to something and it’s politically convenience.
Oh to be a California taxpayer…property, income, sales (of all kinds), ad nauseam. In addition to being a California consumer…housing, insurance (of all kinds), transportation, energy, food, tuition, ad nauseam. The cash registers just never stop ringing, the cacophony deafening.
True, you gotta make good money to live here. Contrarily, high property values because it is a beautiful place to live, lots of open land, relatively unpolluted, uncrowded. Well, I’m talking about Humboldt, not the whole state.
“I’m talking about Humboldt, not the whole state.”
3,600 sq. miles out of 164,000 sq miles. Stated another way: 2%.
Take out the 5 biggest metro areas and CA is pretty wide open. There are a lot of cross-border live-work folks, especially OR/WA, WA/ID, CA/NV and to a small extent, CA/OR. Work where the wages are, obviously, and live where the tax burdens are lower. That’s just making your own economics work in your favor. This works especially well in Portland.
Brought to you by a bureaucracy (CalTrans) that doesn’t do their own work AnD can’t fix a pothole AND it will go to the lowest bidder (doesn’t THAT give you a warm, fuzzy?) AND it will be at least 10 times over the stated budget cost in this article. I mean they’ve only been working on an OPTION with “six years of intensive collaboration and analysis.”
Wonder how much that “six years of collaboration and analysis” cost us and which pockets that amount ended up in…?
Might be an opportunity for the Liberals favorite Billionaire, Elon Musk, to step in with his Boring Company and add to his profits.
It’s easy to complain. What do you suggest?
Just Leave the slide and put a ramp on both sides, evil knivel style!
Prufrock
https://www.boringcompany.com/prufrock
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
Nice!
Glad someone caught the reference.
Maybe you haven’t been following the news. Elon is now widely known as a right wing, conspiracy (leaning) kinda guy. Not favored by “Liberals”!
Sorry. Forgot the /S.
Elon is a conservative but that doesn’t make him right wing. Don’t confuse the two. Not being favored by liberals is a compliment and why he’s successful.
Like many as they grow older, Elon, never a deep thinker who exhibited any real empathy, has swung right.
Here’s what the Economic Times says, “Long considered non-identifiable ideologically, Musk’s politics are now hardline right-wing as he uses his platform (now called X) to stoke the themes cherished by Fox News, conservative talk radio and far-right movements across the West.” https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/led-by-elon-musk-silicon-valley-inches-to-the-right/
Here’s a tweet by Musk that captures that swing to the hard right:
Well it’s an interesting article Kym. I disagree about Elon Musk not being a very deep thinker. I like his tweets. I haven’t seen Musk stoking far-right movements across the west.
“Prosecute/Fauci” doesn’t ring any bells?
Fauci and other must be investigated and held responsible.
In seven years of existence, “the boring company” has completed 2.4 miles of tunnels, both in flat urban environments (LA and Las Vegas).
They’re not experienced enough or competent enough for this project.
Not one of his boring machines dug any of the nearly 200 tunnels around the world that are at least 8 miles long, with another 100 under construction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_railway_tunnels
When he gets some…..mileage under his belt, then go talk to the pros.
O’Bummers gubmint cheese made Musk rich. Newsom’s gubmint cheese will make the Boring Company viable. See how that works?
Meh, I accidentally deleted my post.
At the beginning of 2020, Musk was worth some 27 billion.
By the end of 2020 he was worth 150 billion more. He passed Zuckerberg in November of that year and then a week later passed Gates to become the second richest man. He passed Bezos in January of 2021 to become the richest (though they seemed to go back and forth on that for a bit).
You might want to remember who was POTUS during that time. 🙂
So, you don’t consider the man rich until he reached 27 billion? That’s a pretty weak argument against my statement but it exhibits your TDS quite nicely! ?
Guffaw!!!
Read this, look at the date and note that is when the Kenyan was President*
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html#:~:text=Tesla%20Motors%20Inc.%2C%20SolarCity%20Corp,data%20compiled%20by%20The%20Times.
Math or dates must be hard. In 2020 he went from 27 billion to 180 billion or so…in one year.
Of course there was 2017, 2018, 2019 before that. Again not Obama. Maybe you should check out his growth in earnings for those years. He did become a billionaire in 2012….increasing his net worth to 27 billion at the beginning of 2020.
Is a billionaire a good thing, no.
Not unless he makes nicey, nicey with the Gov. As it is he’s trying to shove everything of his to Texas, and has pissed off city governments in the Bay Area already. Might not get such a deal. Nevada however doesn’t care. If it brings them attention, good or bad, and more money for the casino and leisure activities, they’re all for it.
Tunnel boring rigs
Been around seventy years
So long they’re boring
why don’t you let the engineers decide that
Why?
Ask Newsom where the money went to fill all those potholes…
Hope the cost estimate is closer to reality than the bay bridge was.
The cost will be triple…
Yes! The smart choice. Tunnels are cheaper than highways nowadays. One giant Musk tunnel borer costs less than the equivalent of thousands of prevailing wage, government drones with shovels and excavators. Also smart in terms of stymieing lawsuits from Democrat activist front, ring grabber organizations seeking money to fund carbon heavy lifestyles. Gotta love it! Drill baby drill! Looks like the stars r finally aligning for making America great again post pants pooper.
Okay I’ll ask that question….Is Crescent City really worth 2.1 Billion Dollars to us?
The prison industrial complex is!
As a major link to everything past Crescent City, plus a link to I-5, and hundreds of millions of in tourist dollars? Yes.
The oxbow works just fine. (199 to 5 to 299). Or funnel some tourist dollars to O’Brien, Happy Camp, Orleans and Hoopa by taking the scenic route.
Yeah, nothing like a 400 mile detour.
Ha Ha! I knew you’d pipe up! Fair enough. I have a good friend who does the weekly CC-Arcata commute. I threw the question out there just to see some responses. Is that trolling? Or is it teasing and sampling? Ha ha! I’d like to think I’m using Kym’s site to monitor responses to basic questions….sociology, yeah
LOL.
I’d love to hear the response from your friend!
When you are right, you are right.
O’brien? Um. What’s there beyond a store, gas and some hiking trails? Doesn’t have quite the draw that say, Fern Canyon and Su Meg does. Also, 400 mile detour, vs 85.
Yes. It’s probably worth more than any other county and city in California at this point. But not for long as the cement/windmill Democrat people from down south realize they actually can live comfortably near the coast and its a bargain. And it’s a short drive to Oregon which has no state sales taxes. As a result, they will turn the place into the hellscape they fled from and will wonder what happened. Dyuh. Sadly, it’s the way of our current state of affairs.
The mission should be to downplay Del Norte and Crescent City in the Bay Area and SoCal to stop the locusts from taking over and turning it into another defective progressive utopia like Fort Bragg and Arcata. Advertisements should focus on Del Norte being full of deplorables, Trump voters, and a huge prison to stem the tide. By the way, it currently is and I love it but this fact really pisses off the Democrats who want control over every nook and cranny in California. Hence, gerrymander the county into the larger Marin County district with Huffbagger at the helm so their citizens have no representation. I do believe the citizens of Del Norte understand this impending doom loop and realize guys like Huffbagger are simply progressive tools to their destruction. Reality sucks, keep Del Norte county, Trump country. And build the tunnel.
Epic! ?
Ha Ha Ha! You’re on fire…and I mostly agree. The thing I love most about Arcata are the plazoids and bums who keep the worst of the nanny-rich disgusted and so keep it from blowing up more than it already is. And I dig Noyo and CC for staying real for the working class. Did you know CC is not on the PG&E plan and so their electrical costs are about 1/3 of ours? And Del Norte has more preserved old growth per capita than any other county in CA? And yes- you can drive from CC up to Grants pass and get not only less expensive products but also pay no sales tax and fill up on much much cheaper gas. I’d be there if I didn’t love my Mendocino hill country so much…and then I’d want the tunnel built
199 to Grant’s Pass is pretty sweet. Easiest, quickest way to I5 for 100s of miles both N and S and just enough tricky section to make it interesting but not torture.
Plus a big chunk of the drive is right next to the beautiful Smith River.
Plus CC has both a Walmart and Home Depot.?
And the lighthouse is really cute and you get to climb to the top.
The big prison nearby is not a plus though.
I kind of like Brookings, just N of Chetco River.
The coastline from Brookings to Port Orford is really spectacular, super beautiful.
Harris Beach State Park on N side of Brookings is spectacular.
You outta get out more.
It’s not just CC. 101 goes from Los Angeles to the northern tip of Washington state (and then hooks around the Olympic peninsula to go south again back down to near Olympia…that always amuses me).
But I was talking to my Mom last night. I told her about the tunnel plan (she doesn’t live out here anymore, but she loves the PNW, including northern California and knows it well). We “decided” that if LCG does finally fall, that Del Norte county north of that should just join Oregon. Though north of Brookings there is the constant slide area. The “Arizona slide” (yes I am old) is never ending really with the Hooskanaden slide fairly recently taking out 101 again. And the sinkhole/landslide in Brookings on 101 in 2016. My parents and I were traveling through Brookings (Harbor) shortly after that happened.
Anyway…
That drive from CC up the Oregon coast is amazingly beautiful. I hope the CA and Portland urban hordes never discover it…
It is really incredibly beautiful. The whole Oregon coast is. A lot of different scenery. But the southern Oregon coast is pretty special. We drive down on business all the way to Fort Bragg even…I never get tired of the views, especially south of Blanco.
I know what you mean about the tourists, though. But Curry County and Del Norte County are pretty isolated from either state. I think they like it like that. That, however comes with a price, an economic one.
I’ve been considering Bandon, OR.
Rather than having CC become part of Oregon, let’s all join the State of Jefferson!
A beautiful dream long since past its use-by date.
101 is a bit of an oddity. The section from Aberdeen to Olympia could be 101 with the Olympic loop a state or some other highway, but it is what it is. For that matter, highway 1 originally was supposed to crawl up the coastline to Eureka, but obviously that didn’t happen.
I’m also getting old. Speaking of Hooskanden, it’s moving, per usual. I just went through there a couple of months ago, and it’s already lumpy with one little bitty spot already giving out on the southbound side.
I have driven between Nesika Beach and Brookings and Crescent City many, many times.
Very common to see the eastmost lane of 101 sliding downhill.
Very common to see the beautiful very high bridge N of Brookings restricted to 1 lane, also.
I like that they’re planning to spend 2031 Dollars for a project they won’t finish until 2038. Seems like a savvy business move
And pretty cool that they already know the value of 2031 dollars!
Not to be a downer but isn’t our dollar about to go bust w/ it losing it’s status as petro-dollar? I would like to see a more conservative approach to spending OUR tax dollars instead of these rose-colored forecasts that seem more like year-by-year jobs programs than based on project completion goals…
Great fix to an intractable problem.
Coming to you soon: the farthest northern toll in the state.
We need a tunnel over Eureka
It’s a Dunning-Kruger smorgasbord!
What a wonderful comment to see here on RHBB!!!
While I agree with you in spirit, the “principle” flaw is as enormous as the nonsensical tunnel “solution”.
Debunking the Dunning-Kruger effect – the least skilled people know how much they don’t know, but everyone thinks they are better than average
https://theconversation.com/debunking-the-dunning-kruger-effect-the-least-skilled-people-know-how-much-they-dont-know-but-everyone-thinks-they-are-better-than-average-195527
??,
This is, “The Last Straw”…
?♂️?
At last, my “tunnel vision” is becoming a reality! I can’t wait to cruise through it.
In 2040 I’ll be playing this song about this tunnel.
https://youtu.be/mJ5b6ZlVhJM
Deep down in places we don’t talk about at parties, we want this tunnel — we need this tunnel.
Once upon a time I thought building a tunnel at last chance grade was the best option. I no longer think that.
Building a $2 billion tunnel on top of a notoriously unstable cliff seems like a terrible idea.
Better to move the highway inland to a much more stable area where building the highway costs much less than $2 billion, can be completed much faster, and is much less likely to slide into the ocean.
Compensate for the redwoods destroyed by buying more land with redwoods on it for parks or create parks and plant redwoods (maybe 10 redwoods for every redwood destroyed?).
Caltrans mentioned consulting the tribes and environmentalists but no mention of consulting the people who pay the taxes to pay for the project. Giving a tiny segment of the population veto rights over these projects is what turns them into billion $ boondoggles.
Not taking sides one way or the other as I have no reason or desire to visit CC, but your comment:
“Building a $2 billion tunnel on top of a notoriously unstable cliff….”
…displays a fundamental misunderstanding of the proposed project in relation to LCG geology.
Caltrans states that alternative F avoids some of the unstable last chance grade formation but not all.
I did realize the tunnel will be built underground (after all, it is a tunnel?) so I should not have said the tunnel would be built on top of last chance. I should have said it will be built partially in the unstable Lost Chance grade.
Please share any relevant links about the specifics of proposed tunnel.
It would be interesting to drill a pilot hole with slim MWD tools (< 5" diameter) to understand just what is going on in the formation of the proposed route as early as possible in the project to ascertain the stability/issues of the proposed route.
If it turns out the route is not so great, best to find out as early as possible.
Spot on.
Good plan. I’ve seen in other countries that tunnel is the way to go. It’s expensive on the front end. Happy to see them coming in with a plan.
Fuel trucks will not be allowed to use this tunnel..