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Let's clear out the obstacles and move
You might not think it from our public exchanges, but I am an admirer of
Mitch Reid. He has many fine qualities. He's sincere. He believes in his
cause (The Devil's Slide Tunnel) and he has worked very hard to make his
cause a fact. What's more, his side won the election a number of years ago.
When the other side takes 74 percent of the vote, consider yourself as
having lost.
That said, it should be pointed out that the focus for decades was not for
a tunnel, but against a bypass. And the real objections to a bypass were
that it would do too good a job. It would make it too easy to commute to
the south Coastside and enjoy its amenities. The new, high quality road
would have made it much more difficult to prevent folks from enjoying the
benefits that come from living on the Coastside. After all, if the elitists
had been alert in time, they might have stopped Linda Mar dead in its
tracks and San Pedro Valley would still be full of artichokes and Brussels
Sprouts. They've never forgiven themselves for missing that opportunity.
Those who wanted to prevent others from enjoying the Coastside as much as
they did advocated the MDA (the Marine Disposal Alternative) for decades.
In the name of the environment, they advocated dumping staggering amounts
of rock and dirt into the ocean. Only after the MDA was thoroughly
discredited, and only after the bypass had been delayed for years and seen
its projected costs increased phenomenally, did someone snap his fingers
and say "Hey there! How about a tunnel?" Then, without ever admitting out
loud that the MDA had been a terrible idea from the beginning, the whole
drumbeat switched to tunnel. I must admit that if the choice is between a
tunnel and the MDA, a tunnel it shall be. Even if the tunnel costs a
fortune.
Mitch should take some credit. If he and his cohort had not delayed,
delayed, delayed, argued, argued, argued, there would be a bypass today. He
says the bypass was "in trouble" in 1995. Darn right. He was the trouble.
As for the tunnel being declared "the preferred alternative" by Caltrans,
they can read election results as well as anyone. But that does not detract
from my argument that the bypass could have been complete by now, and would
have cost half what the tunnel will. Do I expect to convince Mitch? Heck! I
can't even convince my wife. No wonder he got 74% of the vote.
No answer, including the bypass, is perfect. A mountain wall hundreds of
feet high next to the ocean is an obstacle no matter what you do. Montara
Mountain is a major blockade, and has been ever since Gaspar de Portolá
brought his mules and his men over the 920 foot pass.
Inertia being what it is, it's always easier to stop things from happening,
or slowing things down, than it is to get things going full speed ahead.
As year succeeds year, and the tunnel election inches toward its eighth
anniversary, and we all get older, and the Devil's Slide approaches its
next disastrous closure, I often wonder what might have been done
differently. What I've come to realize is that the tunnel for many is a
quasi-religious experience. No amount of logic or discussion will change
that. The tunnel is a matter of faith. But if we're going to have a tunnel,
I wish Cal Trans would get on with it. Every day it's delayed, the cost
rises. Every day it's delayed increases the chances of another closure.
Paul Azevedo has been driving the Devil's Slide route for
more than forty years, except for those times it's been closed by
rockslides. His e mail address is Paul@thereactor.net.
Check The Reactor's website at www.thereactor.net.
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