Ribbon-cutting ceremonies were held today in Orinda, California, heralding the opening of a fourth tunnel this weekend on the 24 Expressway connecting Oakland and Berkeley with suburbia to the east .
Caldicott tunnel. A red square 24 marks the spot.
Bring on the Caldecott Tunnel fourth bore. Bring on the traffic relief. And say goodbye forever to the frustrating daily change of direction in tunnel lanes at one of the Bay Area's most famous bottlenecks.
After four years of work, the $417 million fourth and probably final bore of the 76-year-old Caldecott Tunnel, will likely open this weekend, Caltrans reports.
The Pre-Caldecott tunnel, circa 1920. One way in the dark!
Who paid for it?
Financing: Money for the $417 million project included $194 million from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, $124.6 million from Contra Costa County sales tax for transportation, $50 million in Bay Area bridge toll money, $20 million in state congestion funds, $19 million in state highway funds and $11 million in federal highway funds.
Yup. The Stimulus, aka ARRA. My understanding is that it would not have been completed (or perhaps even serious work begun) for a number of years more without ARRA monies.
One mean machine.
In what may be the most amazing fact of all about the project:
The project is being completed on schedule by the end of the year, and just within the $420 million budget...
The Caldecott Tunnel originally opened in 1937 with two bores. A third bore was completed in 1964, serving traffic westbound from the burbs in the morning at rush hour and eastbound back to Walnut Creek and environs in the evening.
Third bore on the left. Original tunnel on the right.
I rarely travel that route, but when I do it has always been in dread of running into a massive traffic jam as the eastbound four lanes with accompanying on ramps narrow down to two in the approach to the tunnel.
That's not going to happen anymore.
No More, No More
Worth said having four lanes in each direction eliminates the stressful weaving and merging that confronts motorists when the freeway narrows from four to two lanes before the tunnel. "People will know where to go."
...
Those driving east through the tunnel between Contra Costa and Alameda counties on weekday mornings will save an average of five minutes. The return westbound commute will be cut eight to 10 minutes per afternoon trip, traffic engineers report.
Doesn't sound like much, but it adds up quickly in less gasoline consumed, the enamel saved from less gnashing of teeth, and fewer bald people.
So thank you banksters for causing the Great Recession, which caused the stimulus to be proposed, which caused ARRA to be be passed, which caused the money to be allocated for the project, which caused all the unemployed people to be hired to build the tunnel, which will now give us peons a little traffic relief.
It was worth every trillion.
(That's snark. And serious. At the same time. Don't get me wrong: having the fourth bore will be awesome! Getting it only as a result of the biggest financial disaster in most living memories is not.)
Sat Nov 16, 2013 at 7:05 AM PT: Ding!