Recent News and Media Coverage
1.1-mile tunnel to make highway safer would be California’s longest
ASCE Magazine, asce.org, September 3, 2025
This California highway is a lifeline, and deadly. Can it be fixed before it falls into the sea?
LA Times, latimes.com, September 3, 2025
Article summary: U.S. Highway 101’s Last Chance Grade is crumbling, and California is racing to build an approximately $2.1 billion tunnel to keep the only road between Crescent City and the rest of the state from falling into the Pacific. The three-mile stretch has been plagued by landslides for decades, swallowing lives, cutting off communities, and costing more than $125 million in short-term fixes since the 1990s. Now, with climate change speeding up erosion, state leaders say the tunnel is the only way forward, though construction may not start until 2030. The road is the only viable link between Crescent City and Humboldt County; detours run 449 miles and take eight hours. If Last Chance Grade collapsed, it's estimated Del Norte County could lose up to 3,800 jobs and $456 million in economic activity in just one year.
SF Chronicle, sfchronicle.com, July 25, 2025
Article summary: After years of emergency fixes, Caltrans has proposed a mile-long tunnel to bypass the slide area, but it comes with a $2.1 billion price tag and a long road to funding. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2030, with completion not expected until 2039. The tunnel, at 6,000 feet, would be California’s longest and serve as a lifeline for an isolated region that relies on the route for daily commutes, commerce, and connection to the rest of the country. Only a portion of the project's needed funding is currently secured, as the area serves about 6,000 vehicles per day, including essential freight and commuter traffic.
With 6,000-foot tunnel and $2.1 billion, California set to save remote region
SFGATE, sfgate.com, July 6, 2025
Announcing a $40 million allocation toward the Design Phase of the Last Chance Grade Project
Caltrans District 1 Facebook, June 27, 2025
