Pescadero Memories

This is from the May 1939, issue of the “Highways and Public Works,” pamphlet. I’ve also attached a photo of Mr. Skeggs, the engineer

for many important District IV projects, including this one, along the coast. Enjoy. John

P.S. I’ll soon have comments on what you can observe in the photos, as well as how things have changed up to today. Though they predicted the Tunitas project would be funded in the next biennium, probably right after the Pescadero-San Gregorio project in their plans, a little matter of W.W. II got in the way. I’ve looked through a thousand pages in the War years and so far, nothing.

From San Francisco to Santa Cruz, State Highway Route 56, Bear Sign Route 1, closely follows the ocean and is a part of the Coast Highway, which will ultimately extend along the greater portion of the ocean front from Mexico to Washington.

There is at present under construction in District IV, a segment of this highway in Santa Cruz County, located on a high, bare bench of Monterey shale. The portion under construction commences 11 miles north of the City of Santa Cruz, and extends along a new alignment for 8.2 miles. The small unincorporated Town of Davenport, is at the southern terminus, and the northern terminus is Waddell Creek.

Northerly of Waddell Creek for over a mile the Waddell Bluffs face the ocean. To construct a highway along these bluffs will challenge the ability and experience for the locating and constructing forces when funds become available to reconstruct the existing road, which leads a precarious existence, menaced on one side by the fury of the ocean and slides and erosion from the bluffs on the other.

The high Monterey bench is easily eroded, and four large creeks with their headwaters in the Ben Lomond mountains have trenched deeply through the shale, making it necessary to dip sharply into their valleys with the new location. The areas of the stream sheds are in general not of large extent, the longest not exceeding 10 miles in length; but the rainfall often exceeds 60 inches per year, producing heavy runoff.

The original trail was improved in 1852 by the County, and to avoid the saw tooth bluffs the road was located a considerable distance back from the coast, requiring the climbing of minor summits to regain the ocean front.

The State took over this highway for maintenance in 1933 under legislative action. When funds became available for reconstruction, surveys showed that a large saving in mileage and in rise and fall would be had by skirting the ocean bluff.

The new highway will be 8.2 miles long, starting approximately one-half mile south of Davenport and extending to the Waddell Bluffs. This is a saving over the old road of 2.1 miles of distance, with the elimination of 133 curves and 5,030 degrees of curvature, and a reduction of .4% of the maximum grade, as well as the saving of 300 feet of elevation.

There will be only minor stretches of 7% grade. The roadway surfacing will be 22 feet wide, consisting of a road mix ROMC-3 binder for a depth compacted of .21 of a foot with D. G. material and 7 foot wide shoulders on each side, treated with a seal coating of screenings and 90-95% liquid asphalt.

Two of the large streams will be bridged with large reinforced concrete arch culverts, and the third stream, Scott Creek, will be taken care of by a reinforced concrete bridge, 160 feet in length, resting on concrete piles. The fourth stream, which is Waddell Creek, will not be bridged until the section through the Waddell Bluff has been realigned.

Considerable truck farming is in progress all along this entire route, this coast route being naturally the only road available for people living on the Western slopes of the Santa Cruz and Ben Lomond country. There is a comparatively small amount of dense fog.

The ultimate distance from Santa Cruz to San Francisco, via the Coast Road, will be approximately the same as other inland routes, with the added features of no cross traffic and the absence of long sustained grades. This improvement, along with others, eventually should be a great boon to truck transportation, also recreational purposes, and even for through traffic service a new, fast and scenic highway is in the making.

The progress to date has been very good, due to the unusual amount of rainfall this last winter. It has been possible to work a continuous 2-8 hour shifts, without any interruption with the equipment even during the rain, due to the Monterey shale and sand formation.

This is the third section of the Ocean Shore Highway to be improved since 1936; the first 3 mile section just out of the City of San Francisco, and the second section being the San Pedro relocation, between Farallone City and Rockaway Beach, a distance of 6 miles. It is expected another difficult section will be constructed during the next biennium in the neighborhood of Tunitas Creek.

The project is being built on a cooperative basis from Federal, State, and Joint Highway District No. 9 funds. Joint Highway District No. 9 comprises the counties of San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Cruz.  The directors of the District are members of the Boards of Supervisors of the respective counties; John M. Ratto representing San Francisco county, Alvin Hatch, San Mateo County, and George Ley, Santa Cruz County.

Excellent progress is being made in the construction of this highway, and it is expected it will be opened to traffic before the contract date for completion, which is December 14, 1939.