Waldo Grade
The Waldo Grade is a highway
Robin Williams Tunnel
 The southern portal of the Robin Williams Tunnel | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | Waldo Tunnel |
| Location | Sausalito, California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°50′34.86″N 122°29′08.34″W / 37.8430167°N 122.4856500°W |
| Route |   US 101 / SR 1 |
| Operation | |
| Opened | Bore 1 (west): 1937 Bore 2 (east): 1954 |
| Operator | Caltrans |
| Technical | |
| No. of lanes | 4 per bore |
| Route map | |
 | |
A tunnel officially known as the Robin Williams Tunnel
After the death of actor and comedian
As San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge are hidden from the northern approach of US 101/SR 1 by hills, automobile travelers heading south along this route get their first views of the city and its iconic bridge upon exiting the tunnel's southbound bore.
1982 landslides
On January 4–5, 1982, the freeway was completely closed for 24 hours as a result of two landslides on the Waldo Grade caused by a severe storm in the San Francisco Bay area, and partially closed for nearly two weeks.
The first landslide was on January 4, with rock, mud and trees falling onto the highway blocking the southbound lanes and two of the northbound lanes.[6]
A second debris avalanche began about 50 feet (15 m) below the freeway at about 9:35pm on January 5, in fill material that had been stable since highway construction in 1953.[6][7] The slide first carried away a house on Sausalito Boulevard, and then destroyed a house below it at 85 Crescent Avenue, killing resident Sally Baum. Three hundred residents were evacuated to a Red Cross shelter.[6][7]
A crack developed in the roadway and, concerned that the highway might fail,
In fiction
The tunnel is featured in the Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry and the Humphrey Bogart film Dark Passage. The honking of horns in the tunnel, often done deliberately for the sake of hearing the echoes, was the inspiration for harmonicist Bruce "Creeper" Kurnow's composition "Honk If You Love Harmonica."[10]
In the film Bicentennial Man (starring Robin Williams), a futuristic view of a relocated highway bypasses the historic Waldo Grade.[11]
At the beginning of the 2015 Pixar film Inside Out, the main character's family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. Their first view of the Golden Gate Bridge - and the film's title card - appear as they emerge from the Robin Williams Tunnel.
See also
References
- ^ Caltrans definitions of highway segments in District Four
- ^ "Robin Williams Tunnel Sign Goes Up On Waldo Grade". CBS SF BayArea. March 1, 2016. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
- ^ Riya Bhattacharjee (Aug 15, 2014). "Petition Seeks to Rename Golden Gate's Waldo Tunnel as "Robin Williams Tunnel"". NBC Bay Area.
- ^ Moore, Derek (April 23, 2015). "California Assembly OKs bill to name tunnel north of Golden Gate Bridge after Robin Williams". Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
- ^ Mark Prado (2015-06-30). "Legislators clear plan to rename Marin tunnel for Robin Williams". Marin Independent Journal. San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2015-06-30.
- ^ a b c d "Landslide and Storm Damage. January 1982 ." (PDF), California Geology, 35 (7): 148–149, July 1982, archived from the original (PDF) on 2020-02-17
- ^ ISBN 9780944220115
- ^ Ellen, Stephen D.; Wieczorek, Gerald F. (1988). "Landslides, floods, and marine effects of the storm of January 3–5, 1982, in the San Francisco Bay Region, California" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper (1434): 200. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
- ^ Environmental Screening Analysis, Shelterpoint Office Center, Mill Valley, California, Earth Metrics Inc. Report # 10179, September 20, 1989
- ^ Berta, Robert Karl (October 1999). "CD Review: Bruce "Creeper" Kurnow: Harmonicaland". The Free-Reed Review. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
- ^ Bicentennial Man film storyboards
External links
Media related to Robin Williams Tunnel at Wikimedia Commons
