It took almost 50 years but the Caldecott tunnel finally has its fourth bore, allowing traffic to pass through two tunnels in each direction, Orinda – Oakland.
From the project site:
Saturday morning, November 16, 2013 at 4:10 a.m. the first vehicles drove through the new, two-lane, 3300-foot-long Fourth Bore of the Caldecott Tunnel. The long-planned $417 million project provides congestion relief to residents and workers in the East Bay, and brings to an end the daily process of switching the traffic direction of the third bore to accommodate travel between Alameda and Contra Costa counties.
The new Fourth Bore features wide travel lanes, roadway shoulders, bright lighting, emergency exits along the length of the tunnel, and state-of-the-art fire and life safety systems. The tunnel’s incident detection and response systems underwent extensive testing before Caltrans began the traffic realignment needed for the new State Route 24 lane configuration utilizing the Fourth Bore.
Years ago when I used to live in Oakland and work in Concord I would dream about that fourth bore opening while waiting to get through, so it’s really amazing that it’s finally happened. Has anyone noticed a difference in their commute time?
Photo from Caldecott Tunnel project