Caldecott Tunnel

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The Caldecott Tunnel is a three bore tunnel in Oakland, California. The east-west tunnel is signed as a part of California State Highway 24, and connects Oakland to communities in Contra Costa County, through the Berkeley Hills. The tunnel is named after Thomas E. Caldecott, mayor of Berkeley from 1930-1932, and president of Joint Highway District 13, which built the first two tunnels.

Bore 1 (the southernmost bore) and Bore 2 were completed in 1937 and are each 3,610 feet (1,100 m) long and carry two lanes of traffic. Bore 3 (the northernmost bore), built in 1964, is 3,771 feet (1,149 m) in length, and also carries two traffic lanes.

The middle bore (Bore 2) can be shifted to accommodate heavy traffic. Generally, it carries westbound traffic from about midnight to noon and eastbound traffic from about noon to midnight.

[edit] History

In the 19th century, traffic over the Berkeley Hills in this area went up Harwood Canyon, now known as Claremont Canyon (behind the Claremont Hotel). The road leading up the canyon from the west was initially called Harwood's Road, later changed to Telegraph Road, and finally, Claremont. The road on the other side of the hills was, and remains Fish Ranch Road. An inn once existed at the summit.

In 1903, a tunnel was built above the present location of the Caldecott Tunnel, in the next canyon south of Claremont Canyon. This tunnel was approached by a new road dubbed "Tunnel Road" which started at the top of Ashby Avenue in Berkeley.

In 1929, construction of the first two bores of the Caldecott Tunnel began. They were completed in 1937, and were originally known as the Broadway Low Level Tunnel as the approach was from the top of Broadway in Oakland, and was below the portal of the old tunnel. However, access from Ashby Avenue was retained as it was designated the connecting thoroughfare from the Eastshore Highway (now Freeway) and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and dubbed State Highway 24. The third bore was opened in 1964. In the late 1960s, the Grove-Shafter Freeway was completed and replaced Broadway as the main access route to the Caldecott Tunnel. Ashby Avenue and Tunnel Road were redesignated State Highway 13 and aligned with the new Warren Freeway through the Montclair District of Oakland. The Grove-Shafter Freeway was then designated State Highway 24.

In 1982, a major fire was set off by an accident in the north bore, one of the few to have involved a gasoline truck.

In 1991, the area of the canyon just above the Caldecott Tunnel was the site of the origin of a major catastrophic fire, the 1991 Oakland firestorm. The fire spread quickly down both sides of the west portal on its way to burning through hundreds of homes.

In 2000, the California Department of Transportation began planning the possibility of a fourth bore, due to increased traffic along the route.

The Caldecott Tunnel was designated a City of Oakland Landmark in 1980, and received a Preservation Award from the Art Deco Society of California in 1993.