on the cover / By Cristina Bauss

Parting The Redwood Curtain

Will opening Richardson Grove spell catastrophe or salvation?

(March 6, 2008)  Just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, on the west side of U.S. Route 101, is an old, wooden sign that says “Redwood Highway.” The sign blends into its surroundings, and is easy to miss; it marks the beginning of the 438-mile-long stretch of road — from San Francisco to Grants Pass — that weaves through an area once enveloped by a great, primeval forest.

If you don’t leave the highway, though, you have to travel nearly 200 miles before truly experiencing that now-mythic wood. At the Humboldt County line, Highway 101 narrows down to two lanes, wending its way through a state park that remains secluded in shadow even on the sunniest days. When this section of the road was built, in 1915, there were only 2.5 million registered cars in the entire country, the Save-The-Redwoods League was still in its nascent stages, and the park’s namesake, Friend Richardson, had not yet been elected governor of California.

Highway 101 through Richardson Grove. Photo courtesy of Caltrans

GALLERY >

Richardson Grove “is the gateway to the North Coast and to the Redwood Curtain,” Caltrans District One Director Charlie Fielder said on Feb. 20, when about 150 people packed a meeting at the Wharfinger Building. And, ever since Caltrans unveiled its proposal to realign the stretch of 101 that passes through Richardson Grove in order to allow industry-standard trucks to enter Humboldt County, the grove has become much more: the crux of a debate, to lift a campaign slogan from a certain presidential candidate, about “the past … versus the future.”

The realignment proposal was first introduced at a Sept. 27 open house at the Benbow Valley RV Resort, where, over the course of three hours, about three dozen Southern Humboldt and Northern Mendocino residents trickled in to pore over publicity materials and project maps. Caltrans representatives on hand to answer questions included Fielder, Project Manager Kim Floyd and Senior Environmental Planner Deborah Harmon, all of whom professed unbridled enthusiasm about the minimal amount of work needed in order to meet safety standards.

By Caltrans norms, the proposed plan is almost laughably small: two months’ work performed over a mile-long stretch of road, at a total cost of $5 million. The project area is divided into three sections, with the southernmost point on State Parks property, north of the Hartsook Inn, and the northernmost point at Singing Trees Recovery Center. Section 1, in the south, is where most of the realignment would take place; Section 2 would involve repaving only; and Section 3 would include some minor realignment, removal of a number of small trees on a slope across the highway from Singing Trees, and the construction of a retaining wall there.

The only sizable portion to be realigned is on the east side of the highway, north of mile post marker 1.35. Here, on a stretch of road that’s roughly 100 to 150 feet long, a lane-width’s worth of pavement would be added, with the centerline realigned accordingly. In five other locations in Section 1 — three on the east side of the highway, two on the west — the road would be slightly realigned in order to enable industry-standard-sized trucks, as defined in the Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA), to safely round the curves. According to Caltrans, in the five-year time period between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2007, 13 collisions involving commercial trucks occurred in the grove; of those, seven were multi-vehicle accidents, and two involved trucks hitting spilled loads.

“It’s misnomered as a ‘widening’ project,” Harmon said on Sept. 27. “We’re actually realigning the areas just before you get to the trees, and basically lining the trucks up in the such a way that they can get through safely.” Like the plan, the difference between trucks that are legally allowed through the corridor and those that are not might seem minute: Currently, the trucks allowed have a 15-foot cab and a 45-foot trailer, with a 20-foot wheelbase, while the smallest standard-sized trucks have a 16-foot cab and a 48-foot trailer, with a 25-foot wheelbase.

Why does it matter? Because — according to numerous Humboldt County business owners who have spoken out in support of the project — the regulations cost them millions of dollars each year in offloading costs, and safety issues have long plagued truckers making the trip through 101. And here’s the clincher: Caltrans says not a single old-growth redwood tree will be removed. Most of the trees cut will be tanoaks, maples, and bay laurels, but the agency still can’t say how many.

1 2 3 4 5 6 NEXT PAGE >SHARE