Drivers along Highway 1 south of San Francisco have been kept waiting for the bypass tunnels at Devil's Slide to open for years -- and will have to wait a little bit longer.
CalTrans announced that the tunnels -- begun in 2006 with a 2011 completion date -- won't open until next year at the earliest, according to the Contra Costa Times.
It's unclear how much more the project will cost to taxpayers -- or why CalTrans apparently tried to hide the fact from the public, according to the newspaper. No public notices were ever issued, only a quiet update of CalTrans's Web site saying that "late 2012" is when the tunnels might open.
A construction firm based out of Nebraska was paid $272 million for the tunnels and an additional $42 million for a nearby bridge, according to the newspaper. The firm's work has taken longer than originally planned becuse of irregular rock and soil formations at the tunnel location, which has required numerous different types of machinery.
