July
9, 2014
The
Daily Journal
By
Michelle Durand
The steep terrain and spotty
cellular reception of the new Devil’s Slide trail could leave visitors
vulnerable to injury and unable to call for help, according to the San Mateo
County Civil Grand Jury which recommends several ways to improve safety on the
former highway.
In a report released Tuesday,
the jury recommends county officials look at improving the emergency
communication system such as installing a call box, reevaluate allowing horses
on the trail, install more fencing to keep people from Bunker Hill and
replacing the guardrail with one that children can’t crawl under.
Parks Director Marlene Finley
said she welcomes the input.
“When the county was designing
the trail, we knew we were going to learn things as people use the trail,”
Finley said. “We are adapting as we go.”
The jury reports and
recommendations carry no legal weight but subjects are required to respond in
writing within 90 days.
The Devil’s Slide Trail is the
converted portion of Highway 1 closed by the opening of the Tom Lantos Tunnels
in March 2013. The Board of Supervisors spent nearly $2 million turning the
highway section into a park with a paved, multi-use trail following the
coastline and providing visitors with 1.3 miles of scenic views. The trail
opened March 27 and is available around the clock all year although the parking
lots and two park rangers are limited to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
The jury noted the trail’s
“extraordinary cliff views” as a major draw but added that those sheer
structures and the area’s history of rock slides carry safety risks,
particularly of children. The Parks Department has an annual maintenance budget
of $220,823 for the trail but no other money is allocated to repair damage from
rock slides. Staff will remove debris with an existing cabbed rock sweeper but
if the road slid down toward the ocean, the county will operate it as two
separate trails rather than repair it.
The county supervisors also did
not set aside money to install emergency phones because the $80,000 price tag
was too much. Park rangers carry handheld short-wave radios but, when they
aren’t present visitors must rely on their own cellular phones in an area with
very unreliable reception. Seven grand jurors touring the spot reported not
being able to get service on the majority of the trail.
Finley said she is actually
meeting with AT&T representatives at the trail on Thursday to talk about
how to provide better cellular coverage in the area.
The jury recommends the county
reconsider allowing horses to share the trail with hikers, bikers and dog
walkers because the fog can make the surface wet and slippery and the parking
lots don’t adequately accommodate loading and unloading of the animals.
Finley said the department
hasn’t made any decisions about reevaluating horses but it’s been the subject
of much discussion during planning. The county didn’t want to prohibit them
because the trial is part of the bigger coastal trail, she said.
Along with the views, another
of the trail’s attraction might also prove a risk, according to the jury.
Access to the World War II gun emplacement Bunker Hill is restricted because it
is reached via an old dirt stairway without handrails. However, the jury said
it found evidence of trespassing prior to the trail’s official grand opening
and recommends extending the fencing and replacing the existing guardrail which
is large enough for children to crawl under. The majority of the trail uses a
“k-rail” design but park officials went with the other guardrail as a
cost-savings measure there, according to the jury.
Since the jury’s visit, Finley
said the parks staff actually extended the fencing on its own after the trail
opened.
As for the k-rail, she said
there are other portions of the trail that don’t use it, too.
The full report is available at
www.sanmateocourt.org/jury
michelle@smdailyjournal.com, (650)
344-5200 ext. 102
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