Fix Highway One

Many people are saying many things about the proposed widening of Highway One in Pacifica.

To me it looks like a great improvement over the old highway. It does not look much wider and it has exits and entrances for easy access,

Here’s some pictures of before and after the widening you can decide for yourself.

http://fixpacifica.blogspot.com/2014/08/hwy-1-before-and-after-widening....

And here’s a great article that was in the Tribune last week

by Jim Wagner and Mark Stechbart.

The Hwy. 1 widening effort to fix a one-mile bottleneck may be coming to a close after 30 years of talk and studies. The final environmental report has been published. It is four volumes containing 2,100 pages. But a lawsuit has been filed objecting to conclusions supporting the widening to improve the commute and also touting “alternatives” to commuters driving.

The court hearing to settle disputes over the environmental report is scheduled for August 22.

Over the course of the 30 years of debate for this widening, we have seen the City of Pacifica endorse the project with a December 2006 letter signed by Mayor Pete DeJarnatt, “The purpose of this letter is to convey the need for and reiterate the City of Pacifica’s full support for the subject project...this segment of Hwy. 1 experiences heavy congestion during both morning and evening peak hours..this portion of highway is extremely vital to the coastal highway system for it provides the only link between the northern and southern coastal regions.”

The Pacifica School District said this in a January 2007 Hwy. 1 widening support letter, “The Pacifica School District is very supportive of and endorses the continued funding of all studies need to mitigate traffic congestion...the current level of congestion at commute times affects the daily life of 3,400 children who attend our schools...the widening of Hwy. 1 would specifically help traffic concerns related to safety, emergency response times and the overall standard of living in Pacifica.”

Finally, three retired Pacifica Fire Department Battalion Chiefs with more than 100 years of service underscored the need for a Hwy. 1 widening for emergency vehicle response and getting equipment to the north end of town during a fire.

So the need is pretty clear. And we all know we can’t use the bus or walk to work, otherwise that “alternative” would have solved the bottleneck 30 years ago.

Now we are in court. Because of the inherent complexity of environmental law, some observers think the August 22 court hearing may generate even more delay. In the 2,100 pages of reports some errors are bound to occur, so some items may have to be re-studied. On the plus side, one would hope the court would understand stopping thousands of hours lost in commutes over 30 years and tons of pollution generated by cars crawling through this bottleneck outweighs minor errors in the report.

Elected officials are beginning to take this new look at environmental reviews. Over the past several years in the Legislature, bills have sought to even out the process. The Democratic leadership, with long-term environmental credentials, have supported the process. The pending $5 billion Tesla car battery factory has legislative support to speed up the process and cut down delay. The 49er stadium in Santa Clara also had legislation to speed up the reviews. A big part of the legislative reform has been aimed at providing clearer direction to courts so that entire environmental documents were not invalidated just because the judge found minor errors.

Does this sound familiar? If the 49ers and Tesla faced a 30-year review, endless talk and lawsuits over alternatives no one has ever used, nothing would get done.

Eighteen years ago the City endorsed; 17 years ago the school district endorsed. Yet we still sit in traffic, waste time, pollute and hold up emergency vehicles. In this time period the United States designed, built and launched a space station. Our request to the Court -- let’s get this done!”