Crane topples over embankment after retaining wall fails

The Devil’s Slide Tunnels that bypass a landslide prone stretch of California coast will not open until late 2012, a full year later than anticipated according to Caltrans. The tunnels broke through back in October, […]

The “breakthrough” media event for CALTRANS’ Devil’s Slide Tunnel project was this past Friday.  A large crowd of politicians, news crews and locals were on hand as a road-header broke through a shotcrete face in a ceremony to mark the completion of the excavation portion of the first of two tunnels.  It will still be over a year until the tunnels are opened to traffic.  The second tunnel is expected to breakthrough as early as this week. (Photo by SFGate.com)

Caltrans tunnel punch-through from Barry Parr on Vimeo.

The Video came from the Coastsider, the page also has comments from the videographer, Barry Parr, which offer a good perspective on the event.

Click on through for more links etc.

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On September 17, CALTRANS and Kiewit Pacific held a "tunnel excavation celebration" to kick off the start of tunnel construction on The Devil’s Slide Tunnels project on California State Route 1 (the Pacific Coast Highway) in San Mateo County between the town of Montara to the south and the city of Pacifica to the north. The project involves the creation of a separated two-lane road, one lane in each direction. This road will pass through twin tunnels, over twin bridges and connect with an existing non-separated two-lane road at each end. The new road will be approximately 6,500 feet long, made up of the roughly 4,000-foot twin tunnels, the 1,500-foot north approach road (which includes the 1000-foot parallel bridges), and the 1,000-foot south approach road. Upon completion, the new road will bypass geologically unstable portions of existing Route 1, sections of roadway subject to lengthy closures, high maintenance costs over the years, and risk of permanent failure. Thanks Geology.com for the heads up. [Read on for more background, photos, maps, and movies!] (Images by CALTRANS)

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