Highway 1 Median Project Still a Work in Progress

Is it finished, or isn’t it?

That’s the question many Coastside residents are asking themselves as they drive by the stretch of Highway 1 between Highway 92 and North Main Street.

Native bunch grasses, daffodils, irises and other plants that are low maintenance and drought tolerant, along with shrubs and irrigation improvements, line the median as part of a landscaping project to beautify this portion of Highway 1.

Yet with scrubby dirt piles and weeds at either end of the area — from north of Highway 92 to south of Kelly Avenue — it appears as if portions of the project are left unfinished.

“The contractor has completed all work under his contract for the Highway 1 Median Landscaping project,” said Mo Sharma, Half Moon Bay city engineer.

Still, the City plans to extend the median’s landscaping "very soon with additional local fund contributions," said Sharma. It’s just a matter of finding another grant and getting the money in place.

“We were able to start 92 north and Kelly south,” said Charise McHugh, who initiated the project when she became CEO of the Chamber of Commerce & Visitors' Bureau over 14 years ago. “Both our foundation and the city has some money left over and both have to spend it on the median project because that is what it was designated for. So, I think we are about to complete the portion from 92 north to North Main Street. As for the Kelly south portion, we are hoping to get another grant and perhaps raise some more money and complete that next year. I don’t know if we can get another grant.”

It was initially a $140,000 check from the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce & Visitors' Bureau that provided the last of the funds needed to get the job done. This donation from the local business community was combined with $200,000 from a federal highways grant and a Caltrans matching grant of $23,000 to pay for the installation and future maintenance of plants, landscaping and irrigation in the medians along this portion of Highway 1.

The design is based upon plans drafted by Kikuchi and Associates, a landscape architectural firm based in Half Moon Bay.

“When we first got the plans drawn up in 2006 and started raising money just the 92 south to Kelly portion was to be $350,000. With the recession and today’s prices, we got a bit more for our buck,” said McHugh.

Indeed, the City has received several positive comments regarding the finished work, especially the innovative use of gravel for weed control. 

“The median is designed to collect all rain water from the highway and allow ground percolation to the maximum extent possible,” said Sharma. “Too much drainage water in the median would have floated away any traditional organic mulch. The gravel cover also emulates the City beaches. The plants are still growing, but daffodils have already added color. The project is fulfilling its goal of providing a pleasant entry point for visitors and residents of the central San Mateo County coastside.”