Coastside Community First revives Foothill Blvd project

Riffing on the traffic congestion caused by the closure of Highway 1 at Devil’s Slide, the newly-formed Coastside Community First announced itself by proposing the revival of the idea of building two more major roads on the Coastside [pdf of proposal]:  Eastward from Highway 1 about halfway between Terrace Ave and Kehoe Ave (to be called Bayview Drive) and behind the high school (Foothill Boulevard) to connect with Highway 92.

The proposal cites a number of benefits: reduction of commuter traffic, speeding weekend visitors to the coast, improving access to the high school, improving access to Half Moon Bay’s new park, reducing traffic from Pacific Ridge on Terrace Avenue, making it possible to build the Beachwood subdivision, and improving access to downtown via Stone Pine Road, improving access to a future Boy’s and Girl’s Club near the Lutheran Church on Highway 1, and integration with the Highway 92/Main Street improvement project.

The new roads would be two lanes wide, but would include paved shoulders and bike paths. One suggestion in the proposal is to build an underpass at the intersection of Bayview Drive and Highway 1.

This is proposal has been around since Half Moon Bay was incorporated in 1959, but has always been problematic. In addition to its cost, Foothill Boulevard’s route contains known wetlands, and the addition of a underpass on Highway 1 will certainly change the character of spot on the Highway that is dominated by farmland and open space. This site currently has a view from the foothills to the ocean. The project is certain to increase the pressure for development along its route. The proposal says "Construction costs could be equitably shared between planned development owners and the public".

The proposal also does not address the issue of moving the current bottleneck from Main Street to the two-lane portion of Highway 92 and worsening weekend traffic on Highway 1 in El Granada.