To the Edge of the World….

So, it’s my last working-day of freedom, and I didn’t want to face the crowds on the weekend, so I spent today out on the coast, driving to half-moon bay, and I ended up starting by heading up to Montara, which is about as far as you can go these days up Highway 1 because of the slide on Devil’s Slide (which they are still saying is months from opening, if it ever does, because they aren’t sure there’s any support left to rebuild the road on — and it’s still sliding).

Now, as you leave highway 280 to 92 to go to Half Moon bay, there are signs warning of the closure. there are signs on highway 92 as you go over the hill to the coast that it’s closed. It’s been in the news on and off for months, because of the inconvenience and business impact. And as you drive north on highway 1, there are multiple signs warning of the closure, most in bright highway orange with flashing lights. (yes, I’m leading you somewhere….)

So I’m at the point where the road closes, a parking area on Montara State Beach, taking pictures of the coast, and some of the flowers, experimenting with my macro lens and a 12mm extension.

And suddenly this moving van drives up. It sees the big “ROAD CLOSED” sign across the road and stops.

And I suddenly hear this voice yelling “Hey! Can I get through there?” at me.

I have to admit — all I did was shake my head, because if I’d opened my mouth, I’d have fallen over laughing — how could anyone have gotten there and not noticed ANY of the signs?

Um…. okay.

And, of course, Caltrans has been working on a solution to Devil’s Slide — and it has been held up in various forms by opposition over cost, over environmental impacts, etc, etc, etc.

Caltrans first recommended replacing Devil’s Slide with a new route in — get this — 1958. And now they’re piecing it back together again, since the final solution that was (more or less) agreed to (in 1996) won’t be ready until 2011.

The mind just refuses to accept how some things get bogged down in the political process. 38 years of fighting?

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