California Completes First Coastal Erosion Mitigation Project

In a first for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the agency moved a Sonoma County highway segment 400 feet inland to protect it from coastal erosion, reports Maggie Fusek in Patch Petaluma. The Gleason Beach Highway Realignment “involved building 4,000 feet of new highway, including an 810-foot, two-lane bridge with a separated pedestrian walkway and 12-foot shoulders to accommodate bicycle travel.”

According to State Sen. Mike McGuire, “This specific segment of Highway 1 has been especially challenging, constantly being undermined by coastal erosion near Scotty Creek.” The project removed a culvert, letting Scotty Creek flow “unimpeded to the ocean, allowing coho salmon and steelhead to swim upstream again to spawn,” and reconnected a wetland previously divided by the old road. “While the advancing ocean was the reason for this project, it would be foolish to imply that nature is our adversary,” said Caltrans Bay Area Director Dina El Tawansy.