SFO braces for nearly 1 million travelers during Fourth of July travel surge
This rush of people flying to far-flung places is just one illustration of what some experts are calling a national summer travel boom, which may boost the economy while also crowding airports and clogging roads.
The trick, tourism insiders say, is to follow a timeworn adage: Plan ahead.
With 975,000 passengers expected at SFO — a 4% increase from last year — officials have strongly encouraged people to arrive two hours early for domestic flights, and three hours ahead for international boardings, said spokesperson Doug Yakel. Those who don't carry a Real ID should allow extra time for a potentially more intricate screening process.
Fortunately, SFO has no scheduled runway closures, and forecasters expect fair weather conditions.
For Bay Area residents driving to Tahoe or Los Angeles, traffic tends to build up near the inter-regional gateways. Examples include Pacheco Pass, which cleaves through the mountains separating Santa Clara County from the Central Valley, or the Altamont Pass between Tracy and Livermore, which feeds motorists from the East Bay to Interstate 5.
Traditionally, drivers headed from the East Bay to Tahoe or Sacramento have always dreaded another choke point on Interstate 80, between Davis and Vacaville. Flanked by outlet stores, that stretch of freeway picks up local and regional traffic and has long been notorious for slowdowns.
But this year, I-80 road trippers can expect a reprieve. Caltrans has added additional capacity in the form of new carpool lanes between Fairfield and Vacaville, which will be converted to express lanes later this year. The additional lanes have effectively loosened a valve for anyone driving from the Bay Area to Tahoe, Reno, Redding, Sacramento or parts of Gold Country.
With Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year, people might expect a surge of traffic on Thursday afternoon and evening.
'There's some truth to that,' said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Still, over years of studying travel patterns, Goodwin said he's learned an important axiom about the Bay Area.
'We leave home over a wide period of time,' he said. 'But we all come back at the same time: 5 p.m. on Sunday.'
His advice, for people who want to avoid an epic Sunday afternoon traffic jam, is to head out as early as possible.
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San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
SFO braces for nearly 1 million travelers during Fourth of July travel surge
Nearly a million travelers were expected to pass through San Francisco International Airport from Wednesday morning through the Fourth of July weekend, which could mean large swarms at security lines — and a frenetic scramble as people rush to their gates. This rush of people flying to far-flung places is just one illustration of what some experts are calling a national summer travel boom, which may boost the economy while also crowding airports and clogging roads. The trick, tourism insiders say, is to follow a timeworn adage: Plan ahead. With 975,000 passengers expected at SFO — a 4% increase from last year — officials have strongly encouraged people to arrive two hours early for domestic flights, and three hours ahead for international boardings, said spokesperson Doug Yakel. Those who don't carry a Real ID should allow extra time for a potentially more intricate screening process. Fortunately, SFO has no scheduled runway closures, and forecasters expect fair weather conditions. For Bay Area residents driving to Tahoe or Los Angeles, traffic tends to build up near the inter-regional gateways. Examples include Pacheco Pass, which cleaves through the mountains separating Santa Clara County from the Central Valley, or the Altamont Pass between Tracy and Livermore, which feeds motorists from the East Bay to Interstate 5. Traditionally, drivers headed from the East Bay to Tahoe or Sacramento have always dreaded another choke point on Interstate 80, between Davis and Vacaville. Flanked by outlet stores, that stretch of freeway picks up local and regional traffic and has long been notorious for slowdowns. But this year, I-80 road trippers can expect a reprieve. Caltrans has added additional capacity in the form of new carpool lanes between Fairfield and Vacaville, which will be converted to express lanes later this year. The additional lanes have effectively loosened a valve for anyone driving from the Bay Area to Tahoe, Reno, Redding, Sacramento or parts of Gold Country. With Fourth of July falling on a Friday this year, people might expect a surge of traffic on Thursday afternoon and evening. 'There's some truth to that,' said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Still, over years of studying travel patterns, Goodwin said he's learned an important axiom about the Bay Area. 'We leave home over a wide period of time,' he said. 'But we all come back at the same time: 5 p.m. on Sunday.' His advice, for people who want to avoid an epic Sunday afternoon traffic jam, is to head out as early as possible.
San Francisco Chronicle
25-07-2025
- San Francisco Chronicle
This California city relies on a highway that's sliding into the ocean. Fixing it will cost $2 billion
One of California's most expensive infrastructure projects is inching forward in a tiny city on the north coast, where landslides have long battered the main highway. The road in question is Last Chance Grade, a cliff-hugging stretch of U.S. 101 that links Eureka to Crescent City. Winding three miles through a redwood forest that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, the thoroughfare is beautiful and cursed. Ground tremors and winter storms send rocks tumbling from adjacent slopes, burying large sections of pavement and forcing closures. Parts of the overhang are steadily crumbling into the sea. After years of patch jobs and careful monitoring, Caltrans landed on a solution: A 6,000-foot tunnel that would bypass the landslide area, at a cost of $2.1 billion. If built, it would be the longest tunnel in state history, a bedrock lifeline for a relatively isolated place. Political leaders still aren't sure where they'll find all that money. But they see no other option. 'We're really racing against time,' said Democratic Congressman Jared Huffman, who represents a coastal span from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. He considers Last Chance Grade the district's highest transportation priority — more urgent, even, than flood-endangered Highway 37 in the North Bay. 'Last Chance Grade is on the verge of falling into the ocean on any given day,' Huffman said, emphasizing the road's fragility, and its importance. It's an interstate artery that links Del Norte County not only to neighboring Humboldt, but to the rest of the outside world. About 6,000 vehicles travel the route daily, ranging from commuters to truckers to day-trippers. Big rigs rumble along the unsteady terrain, shipping goods from the Bay Area or Humboldt to Crescent City. The most perilous section forms a continental edge, bordered by state and national parks and the ancestral territories of multiple indigenous tribes. Caltrans has maintained the grade for years with a string of 'multimillion dollar band-aid' fixes that require squeezing the highway to one lane, Huffman noted. Neither the congressman nor the state's transportation agency think the rinse-and-repeat cycle of road repair is sustainable. And an indefinite shutdown of Last Chance Grade would paralyze the region. 'Our milk is hauled on that road every day,' said Kate Walker, an employee of Rumiano Cheese company in Crescent City, which relies on milk from 19 organic dairies, 16 of them south in Humboldt County. When the grade closes, the dairy trucks have a much longer journey, through Willow Creek and up Interstate 5 to Grants Pass. That trip can take 'hours and hours,' Walker said. Mulling the geological predicament of Last Chance Grade, Caltrans engineers have proposed many solutions, including bridges, culverts, smaller tunnels and different realignments of the road. Last year, the agency settled on a plan for the mile-long tunnel, which evidently had the most buy-in from lawmakers, local tribes, environmentalists and every other stakeholder. Building consensus was only the first step; the project is now undergoing environmental reviews as lawmakers try to rally funding. So far, Caltrans has set aside $275 million for design and engineering, with construction scheduled to begin in 2030. It's 'hugely consequential that we've gotten this far,' said Gregory Burns of the lobbying firm Thorn Run Partners, delivering a report to the Del Norte Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Burns is the county's advocate in Washington D.C. Despite the progress, Burns conceded, 'there is a roughly $2.1 billion delta that we're going to have to deal with' between now and the project's completion in 2039. Del Norte County Supervisor Darrin Short hopes the federal government might swoop in to fill the $2 billion gap. That's happened at least once before in California. Federal emergency relief funds largely paid for the twin tunnels at Devil's Slide near Pacifica, where Highway 1 curves atop steep, eroding bluffs. The tunnels, which opened in 2013, were named for Peninsula Congressman Tom Lantos, who helped secure the money. Devil's Slide might be the most fitting analogue for the just-as-ominously-named Last Chance, despite a vast difference in project cost. The multibillion-dollar price tag for Last Chance Grade is more than quadruple the $439 million spent on the Tom Lantos bores, which also started as a big-swing idea that needed a lot of political backing — the citizen groups who saw it through became known as 'tunnelistas.' Undoubtedly, Del Norte County officials are grappling with a bigger financial drama, complicated, experts say, by inflation, rising construction costs and the remoteness of the location. Any colossal project like this one 'almost invariably requires multiple revenue streams,' said John Goodwin, a spokesperson for the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission. In some past cases, like the replacement of the Bay Bridge eastern span, project planners combined federal, state and local funding sources. Ongoing maintenance and repairs for the Bay Bridge are paid for with incremental toll increases, which could be a model for Last Chance, albeit a daunting one. If each of the 6,000 vehicles that cross the grade daily were to pay $1, it would take 959 years to cover the estimated $2.1 billion construction cost. Huffman rejects the toll idea, citing the rural poverty in Humboldt and Del Norte counties. Instead, he's gambling on a federal mega grant program for 'inherently huge and expensive' transportation infrastructure. He and others acknowledge the challenges ahead. Costs only escalate over time, and their tunnel plan must pass through multiple presidential administrations. Short, the county supervisor, is relentlessly optimistic about the future of Last Chance. Raised in Crescent City, he's driven along the grade 'regularly' for years, and has more than one unsettling story. Decades ago, he said, his grandparents had to gingerly maneuver around a piece of road that had 'fallen away' from the three mile stretch. Had they been less attentive, he surmised, they might have fallen to the surf below. 'We're going to be groundbreaking (on Last Chance) by the end of this decade, and I think we can all feel it,' Short said, referring to the anxiety and long-shot faith among Crescent City's 6,000 residents. 'We're just hoping the state and the federal government can come together.'
Chicago Tribune
25-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Tom Montgomery Fate: Bears, oh my! Why national parks are our country's treasures
My family and I arrived at Grand Teton National Park on the Fourth of July weekend — with our tents and chuck box and backpacks — hoping to explore an iconic bit of American wilderness. And it did not disappoint. We arrived to find a mama bear and her two cubs nosing around the campsite. More bears appeared the next day. I have seen black bears before, but usually from a distance, not digging in our fire ring. Thankfully, though, I remembered a park ranger's bear talk from a recent trip to Rocky Mountain National Park: First, don't get between the mama and her cubs. Second, stay calm, make noise and raise your arms to appear larger — which is what I did. I abruptly raised my arms and began to yell. 'Da Bears! Da Bears! Go home, Bears!' I shouted, over and over, and kept waving, my nervous humor somehow helping to calm my fears. Finally, the massive mama bear ambled back into the woods, and her cubs eventually followed. When my daughter and her husband originally reserved these campsites nine months prior — securing the last two spots available for the holiday weekend — I had imagined chaos. I feared the crowds: long lines for drinking water, crowded restrooms and the inevitable bottleneck at the park's most popular scenic overlooks. I pictured throngs of families jostling for space, moms and dads snapping selfies while trying to wrangle kids in front of tumbling waterfalls. And, my fears were realized — the park was crowded. Dozens of sweaty kids and their parents trudged up and down the trails. I chatted with many along the way. But I was pleasantly surprised by how attentive and thoughtful and even thankful people seemed. 'Mom, this is amazing,' one teen boy said as they approached the rocky, roaring marvel of Hidden Falls. I just didn't expect the overt expressions of awe and wonder. So what was going on? It was vacation, so people were more relaxed. But maybe, I finally decided, it was also because for a few days we were not focused on ourselves but on other animals, the ones who lived there — the bears, moose, elk, wolves and bison. And perhaps we were again remembering our own sense of belonging to the natural world? Our time at Grand Teton was part of a two-week road trip that included visits to three other national parks: The Badlands and Wind Cave in South Dakota and Yellowstone. Each park offered something unique, but the thread that wove them all together was the same: a public space in which you would encounter the wild beauty in the ever-changing flora and fauna and landscape. In an August 1934 live radio address to the nation from Glacier National Park in Montana, President Franklin D. Roosevelt reiterated this commitment to the parks as a public space. 'There is nothing so American as our national parks,' Roosevelt said. 'They are not for the rich alone. Camping is free, the sanitation is excellent. You will find them in every part of the Union. You will find glorious scenery of every character; you will find every climate; you will perform the double function of enjoying much and learning much.' 'The fundamental idea behind the parks is native. It is, in brief, that the country belongs to the people, that it is in the process of making for the enrichment of the lives of all of us. The parks stand as the outward symbol of this great human principle,' he continued. The accessibility and public aspect of the national parks has been protected since their inception in the mid-19th century — the parks as a natural treasure, open to all. And that 'treasure' is not just a metaphor. Last year, a record 331 million people visited our 63 national parks. That's more than twice as many people who voted in the 2024 presidential election. The national parks are loved by Democrats and Republicans alike. And all that popularity resulted in a $55.6 billion benefit to the nation's economy last year, supporting over 400,000 jobs. To put it simply, the national parks are hugely successful, and supporting them may be one small way to help bring our deeply divided country together. Researchers: How do we help America's national parks? Make global visitors pay it comes as no surprise that the rangers and visitors I talked with during our trip were baffled by the recent budget cuts to the national park system and the talk of privatizing them. These changes were proposed by President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, a former real estate developer. This trio of billionaires does not seem to recognize the value of public lands –– or of public housing, or public education, or public broadcasting, or public transportation. Or that that word — 'public' — is synonymous with our nation's core democratic ideals. Since the Trump administration took office, the National Park Service has lost 24% of its permanent staff, a crippling reduction that has left many parks scrambling to operate with stripped-down crews. Those who remain must do more with less, and it's not sustainable. What the politicians don't realize is that the national parks already operated on a tight budget and rely heavily on unpaid volunteers. There is no waste to cut. Nevertheless, the president's new budget proposal would claw back $267 million already committed to the national parks for 2026. This could perhaps all be resolved if we would only elect a few black bears to serve in Congress, or appoint an elk or moose to head the Department of the Interior. And perhaps an owl as head of Housing and Urban Development — given their skills at restoring abandoned housing? A gray wolf or grizzly for the Department of Defense? And why not a red fox as secretary of commerce? But I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, all the other animals have to rely on is us — the supposedly 'smartest' animal — the one whose choices can and should be guided by conscience.
