Happy Tunnel Day!

Today is the groundbreaking for the Devil’s Slide Tunnel and there’s coverage in the Mercury News and Chronicle. This is the culmination of ten years of hard work for tunnel advocates, who can hardly believe it’s happening. The big ceremony is at 2pm.

Of course, if you’ve driven on the Slide this week, you know that the ground has already been broken. The Merc reports that the ceremony isn’t taking place at the southern construction site:

Because it’s not safe for people to stand along the highway, it actually will occur a quarter-mile away from where the tunnel’s south portal will be, said Caltrans spokesman Jeff Weiss, in a small area that will accommodate about 30 people. The shovels will dig into dirt hauled in for the occasion from Half Moon Bay.

We’ll have more Tunnel coverage later today.