09/14/2014   English German

  Edition # 108  
San Francisco, 09-14-2014


Figure [1]: A part of Highway 1 near San Francisco was repurposed as a hiking trail.

Angelika Anyone who has ever been on vacation in San Francisco or California knows Highway 1. This world-renowned dream road snakes along the Pacific Ocean shore and offers fantastic views. Highway 1 is quite curvy and not in the best shape, which often leads parts breaking right off in the winter time during heavy rainstorms. On top of that, mud slides from the adjacent steep slopes often force closures during that time.

Often affected was the so-called "Devil's Slide" section south of San Francisco, very near Michael's weekend surfing spot. This part of Highway 1 was finished in 1937 and every since has been causing nothing but problems. In 1995 and 2006, the section was completely closed for several months, which led to bad traffic congestion and left some of the smaller towns south of the area isolated and cut off from a steady stream of visiting tourists. A big problem for these towns, where many locals make a living relying on visitor dollars!

This is why civil engineers have been hatching plans since the 1960ies to build a bypass further inlands, eliminating the need for "Devil's Slide", to be able to finally close it for traffic. But environmentalists feared that this bypass would trigger a boom in construction near this secluded shoreline and started a decade-long political campaign against it. They favored a tunnel, and in 1996, voters approved the project, with the first groundbreaking ceremony happening in 2005 by officials.

Figure [2]: A hiker on the now closed part of Highway 1.

In March 2013, the tunnel finally opened. Government construction projects take forever in California. But now the question arose on what to do with the old section of Highway 1 that was no longer in use. And, I've got to admit, this time a few smart people decided to repurpose the Devil's Slide section to a hiking and biking trail, which opened in 2014 for outdoor enthusiasts and was named "Devil's Slide California Coastal Trail".

Figure [3]: The hiking trail offers breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean.

We went hiking on the trail for the first time in July and were thrilled. The path really leads along the old road, directly next to the ocean shore and offers expansive views facing the cliffs along the coast line. There are a few newly created vista points with park benches along the way. The trail runs 1.5 miles in each direction (3 miles round trip) and can be accessed on both the north and the south end, where there are parking opportunities and bathrooms. There's not a lot of space for parking, though, which will inevitably lead to problems during the sunny season, especially when word gets around on how great the trail is. Aside from Crissy Field (Rundbrief 02/2007), this is my new favorite hiking trail.

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