City of Carmel-by-the-Sea v. United States Department of Transportation

ORDER

The Opinion filed September 13, 1996, is withdrawn.

OPINION

This appeal arises from the proposed realignment of California State Highway 1 from the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea to nearby Hatton Canyon. The responsible governmental agencies studied this proposal and others and issued an Environmental Impact Statement/Report as required by state and federal law.

Plaintiffs City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District, Hatton Canyon Coalition and Sierra Club challenged the adequacy of this statement/report under the National Environmental Policy Act, California Environmental Quality Act and Executive Orders 11988 and 11990. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Plaintiffs filed this timely appeal.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm in part, reverse in part and remand.

I

California State Highway 1 (Highway 1) extends from San Clemente in Orange County to Rockport in Mendocino County, California. Over an approximately three-mile stretch through the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea (City of Carmel), motorists traveling on Highway 1 confront severe congestion at peak hours. Highway 1 begins as a…

Concurring and Dissenting.

Homer, The Odyssey (E.V. Rieu & D.C.H. Rieu trans., Penguin Classics 1991).

I

THE PROJECT GOAL AND ITS ALTERNATIVES

This project began in 1947 when California’s Department of Transportation recognized a serious traffic congestion problem along Highway 1. In 1953, the Department formally designated the affected area as a “freeway” which permitted it to be rebuilt as such. This designation raised a storm of protest, however, and was formally opposed by the City of Carmel. The controversy generated by the idea of a freeway close to the City of Carmel caused the Department to look for alternatives, and the Hatton Canyon Freeway alternative thus surfaced in a Traffic Report in September of 1953. This alternative was formally supported by Carmel in a 1954 resolution which says, “NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council reaffirms the feeling expressed in Resolution No. 1373 opposing the location of a freeway along Highway # 1, and strongly urges that every possible consideration be given to the Hatton Canyon Route as much more desirable.” It is fair to say that from that time until the present, over 40 years, this issue in great detail has been…