Noise Issue Keeps Highway 1 Project Quiet

The environmental review of the Devil’s Slide bypass through a state park on California Highway 1 failed to address adequately the added noise levels but met all other conditions for approval, a federal judge ruled Monday.

A temporary injunction prohibiting construction on the bypass remains in effect, according to attorney Alan Moss, who represented owners of Shamrock Ranch. The highway would cut into 50 acres of the 300-acre farm.

U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham ruled the environmental impact statement met federal National Environmental Policy Act standards in all but one respect--noise.

Despite the ruling, Moss noted that Peckham earlier ordered the state to examine alternatives to the highway construction route through the park. That report is still to be submitted and is subject to challenge.

The Sierra Club, Committee for Green Foothills and the Committee for Permanent Repair of Highway 1, contend the environmental impact statement should measure the change in noise level caused by the project and the degree to which the traffic noise will mask the existing natural sounds, such as birds. Peckham agreed.