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The Half Moon Bay Review produced an unusual special section on March 27 to commemorate the opening of a massive tunnel and bridge opening – the first such project in California in 50 years.
The Tom Lantos Tunnels at Devil’s Slide were decades in the making. The $439 million project took more than seven years to finish, but it was first conceived many years earlier. The aptly named Devil’s Slide was a two-lane highway high on the bluffs of Highway 1 that offered spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean. It was also reliably unreliable. It washed out regularly during the rainy season, sometimes stopping north-south traffic for weeks at a time. When the road was out, commute times were often an hour or more.
The Review began planning its coverage of the project opening months before the twin north-south tunnels opened on March 26. Staff writer Sara Hayden took the lead, looking through back editions and finding the principal players in the construction project. She put together trivia nuggets and a by-the-numbers file to go with her reporting.
Review Publisher Bill Murray handled the design, which includes a front-page map of the area and a double-truck timeline graphic inside that is worthy of such a momentous project. Sportswriter Mark Foyer and photographer Charlie Russo attended the opening event, and that coverage went into the eight-page section on deadline.
The section became a wrapper of sorts – a second A section – that covers a more traditional front page. The week’s newspaper is four sections and includes the twice-annual Coastside Guide visitors’ publication.
