Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore a stimulus success story; Project to add desperately needed highway capacity languished unfunded before Recovery Act

Yesterday, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez went to Oakland to mark the beginning of what he called "a fascinating and critical phase" of the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore project.

You may remember a blog post earlier in the year marking the launch of this important addition to the Caldecott Tunnel. Well, this week, with the groundwork complete, the crew brings out the big machine--a road header--and the actual tunnel bore begins.

If you're a fan of transportation infrastructure, you know that's when things get interesting. Because a road header is not just any machine. It's a 130-ton rock-crunching, rotating cutting head built at the end of a boom that will push it though the bedrock of the Berkeley Hills.

Administrator Mendez (right) stands beneath the road header with project manager Bill Monahan

But, for the workers hired to prepare the site for the tunnel bore, it's been plenty interesting since January simply because they've had jobs.

And those hundreds of jobs would not have been created without the American Recovery And Reinvestment Act. You see, the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore, the nation's second largest highway project supported by the Recovery Act, is just one of many good transportation projects across the country that had been in the works for years but languished without adequate funding.

As Administrator Mendez said yesterday:

"It took the Recovery Act to provide the final piece of the funding puzzle and bring a project that’s been talked about for many years--even dreamed about by Bay Area commuters--and make it a reality. And, most importantly, there are lots of men and women who would not have jobs if not for the Recovery Act."

Look who's driving! Administrator Mendez turns on the road header and begins the fourth bore

He's got that right. Already the Recovery Act has been responsible for more than 2.5 million jobs. And not just jobs, but also paychecks and increased demand for construction equipment and materials that ripple through communities boosting suppliers, grocery stores, and other businesses.

As President Obama said in June, we are truly "rebuilding America's economy by rebuilding America."

This summer, the Caldecott Tunnel bore--which will reduce congestion for 160,000 drivers every day and trim the greenhouse gas emissions associated with being stuck in traffic--is one of more than 11,000 road projects under way supported by stimulus money. In California alone, we have more than 450 projects under way this Recovery Summer, and every single one of those projects is employing good people in good jobs.

Administrator Mendez with paleontologist Josh Wyatt discussing fossils of early horses found on site

Ask the tens of thousands of transportation construction workers whose jobs would not have existed without stimulus money what they think of the stimulus, and they will tell you the real story: the Recovery Act has moved America's economy in the right direction.

To see for yourself, please visit our YouTube channel and watch our Voices of the Recovery Act series. You'll hear people like Bill Montgomery and Rhea Mayolo tell in their own words how the Recovery Act is working for America.

Comments

[Daniel Jacobson]

The fourth bore is also the antithesis of smart growth since it will make it easier to reverse-commute from Berkeley and Oakland to the outer East Bay by driving, luring more jobs from the transit-rich urban core in the process. The reductions in emissions and oil consumption associated with relieving traffic congestion will be nullified by an increase in VMT as more people commute 20 miles into the suburbs. A policy that brings new jobs, enhances livability, and reduces emissions and oil consumption in the East Bay would invest in transit-oriented development, bus rapid transit, streetcars, bicycling, congestion pricing, and improved BART Stations. We should not seek to perpetuate the sprawling growth paradigm of the 20th Century.

[Arthur Mason]

So has anyone asked whether they're doing anything about the toxic diesel pollution that will come from the humongous boring machine and the 50 trucks a day that will be hauling dirt and rock away from the construction site? Four years of diesel poison: just what the folks of Alameda and Contra Costa counties need!

[Rob]

Desperately needed highway capacity?

This projects seems out of step with efforts to more effectively score and prioritize projects in a manner that yields outcomes with lasting benefits that are truly supportive of the Livability Principles. While we have also recently read about the new SF multimodal facility and progress in moving HSR along between SF and LA, this story exemplifies the entrenched nature of habit and the difficulties we face in course correcting the ship. Our roadway network is important, but urban highway expansion ha sproven itself a failed strategy. Rather than expand capacity, we need to make more efficient use of the capacity we have - get people out of their cars during peak use periods so that others that must use the highway can do so under much improved conditions - expanded capacity is a band-aid approach, and the adhesive doesn't last very long at all. Also, we've seen double-deck highways collapse in earthquake zones . . . so we've decided tunnels are a good idea?

[NFL Jerseys]

The reductions in emissions and oil consumption associated with relieving traffic congestion will be nullified by an increase in VMT as more people commute 20 miles into the suburbs. A policy that brings new jobs, enhances livability,

[Wanderer]

This project wasn't sold on the basis of any nonexistent greenhouse gas reduction benefits. It was sold, in the face of environmental opposition, as a way that suburban drivers wouldn't have to slow down from 70 mph when they reached the tunnel. Many suburbanities thought this would relieve their commute--I have literally seen jaws drop when people learned it would only speed the already faster reverse commute direction.

[Christine Comella]

My condominium is located on Caldecott Lane, which is -- you guessed it -- right by the Caldecott Tunnel. Although the Fourth Bore Project will hopefully have long-term, big picture advantages, hearing it touted as an ARRA success story makes me feel ill. Since the project broke ground two months ago, property values here at Parkwoods have gone into free fall, plummeting by roughly 30%. Four hundred thirty-three households now are faced with the option of selling at a huge loss, foreclosing, or paying through the nose to live in a toxic, congested dump for the next three years. Sure, the project has created jobs -- but in the meantime, the grand poobahs of transportation who are ‘moving America’s economy forward’ make no mention of the fact that economic conditions have been de-stimulated for 600 residents in the immediate vicinity. And if a butterfly flaps its wings…