Highway 1 realignment on Sonoma Coast at Gleason Beach headed for mid-2021 construction start

After 13 years of planning, designing, researching environmental considerations and negotiating rights-of-way, Caltrans is angling to start construction next year on a new stretch of Highway 1 along the central Sonoma Coast.

The agency plans to shift a nearly 3/4-mile length of roadway 400 feet inland at its farthest point, away from the edge of a rapidly deteriorating bluff that plunges into the Pacific Ocean. A large portion would be elevated above Scotty Creek and adjacent wetlands, becoming the largest man-made structure on the Sonoma County coast.

Work on the $34 million Gleason Beach realignment project could be underway next summer, “if everything goes as scheduled,” Project Manager Lilian Acorda said last week.

Acorda and other Caltrans officials plan to go before the California Coastal Commission in two weeks seeking final approval for their plans so they can put the project out to bid and move toward construction.

Caltrans has been working closely with commission staff for an extended period to address concerns in advance of the hearing. The matter is expected to be scheduled during the regulatory body’s monthly meeting, Nov. 4, 5 and 6.

Acorda said she hoped there would be little mystery about the outcome.

But Caltrans personnel have acknowledged plenty of public questions and uncertainty after an extended process leading to this point, a few false starts and period of many months without one of the periodic town hall meetings used to update the community on the agency’s plans.

In the meantime, Caltrans’ application for a permit for its long-term plan was abruptly withdrawn from consideration by the Coastal Commission in May 2018. And last year, the southbound lane of Highway 1 was so badly compromised that it was abandoned, forcing motorists traveling both directions to share a single lane until Caltrans could improvise two directional lanes to serve through completion of the realignment.

Acorda had hoped to host a public gathering earlier but were unable to because of last fall’s Kincade fire and then the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 70 people joined a full complement of Caltrans personnel when they did finally scheduled a virtual meeting last week, posing questions about everything from noise impacts and reflective railings to the project’s scale and future access to Scotty Creek.

The purpose of the meeting was, in part, to identify the community’s remaining questions and concerns so it could be prepared for the upcoming hearing, said Stefan Galvez-Abadia, chief of Caltrans’ Office of Environmental Analysis.

The size of the structure, especially, “continues to be a point of concern,” he said in an interview. “What we continue to try to explain is the reason we have to design it that way.”

The stretch of roadway at issue is located about halfway between Bodega Bay and Jenner, on a pastoral section of the scenic coastline just north of Portuguese Beach, where Highway 1 dips toward Scotty Creek and then rises again to reach the bluffs on its way north.

During severe weather in the winter of 1998, several blufftop homes in the Gleason Beach subdivision began to give way to the eroding cliffs below, bringing public attention to the natural changes brought by wave action and wind that would continue to carve away at the rock. At least 12 homes have fallen or been removed while the adjacent highway has been undermined.

Caltrans has been monitoring the road, taking protective measures and making temporary repairs. In 2007, it initiated a realignment project, examining a variety of different alternatives, whittling them down to three and, eventually choosing one.

Officials say the cliff is eroding at an average rate of 14 inches per year, though the pace is expected to increase to about 1.5 feet per year by 2050 and 4.6 feet per year by 2100 because of sea level rise, according to the project’s environmental impact report.

The current plan involves 2-year construction of a 3,700-foot curving roadway that leaves the current highway at the north end of Sereno Del Mar, north of Bodega Bay, and rejoins it at Gleason Beach, the actual beach. In between, where the land falls away, a concrete 850-foot structure will span Scotty Creek at an elevation of about 30 feet, lifting motorists above the flood plain and sensitive wetlands and habitat.

The bridge will be 49 feet wide, with a 6-foot sidewalk on the ocean side and 6- to 8-foot shoulder for cyclists, as well as see-through barriers on the outer side of each car lane.

The project will remove a boxy culvert encasing Scotty Creek, improving fish passage and tidal flow.

A task force overseen by Sonoma County will work during the third year plan for public access to the beach, as well as connectivity to coastal trails and other potential amenities.

The structure is unavoidably large in order to meet seismic and safety standards, officials said. It is designed for a 100-year lifespan on a rapidly diminishing landscape, though it should last longer with maintenance.

It is also designed to reflect traditional coastal bridges, with arched features and colors intended to blend in with the sand and bluff sides.

“We all recognize that this is a very large bridge, and we’re doing what we can to help tie it to the coastal community,” Caltrans Landscape Associate Wesley Bexton said during last week’s public meeting.

Complete information about the project is available at gleasonbeachrealignment.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 707-521-5249 or mary.callahan@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MaryCallahanB.