Devil’s Slide to reopen August 4

At a press conference today in Redwood City Caltrans announced that they expected to open Devil’s Slide to the public, barring any unforeseen difficulties in time for the afternoon commute on August 4, over a month earlier than previously expected. Work on the road will continue, but the road will be open.

Caltrans spokesman attributed moving up the date to several factors, including their success in scheduling multiple work crews on the Slide on a twenty-four hour basis.

Devil’s Slide has been closed since the beginning of April, causing frustrating delays for commuters and visitors alike. Traffic congestion went down slightly at the beginning of summer but in the past few weeks it has risen again—commutes from Montara to Half Moon Bay can take forty-five minutes or more during peak hours, plus another half hour or so to reach the I-280 junction.

The Slide will be fully open during regular commute hours but work will continue both at the main work area and the smaller site near Pacifica during off-hours.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Caltrans made their announcement at 3:30pm today.  Due a combination of circumstances, including some technical difficulties and the fact that we were in the air during today’s press conference, this story did not get posted until this evening.