Four Bores Through the Berkeley Hills

State Route 24 climbs out of Oakland, threads the Caldecott Tunnel through the Berkeley Hills, and drops into Orinda, Lafayette and the rest of Contra Costa County. For a very large number of people it is the only practical way to work, which is why the same backup appears at the same time every weekday with the reliability of a train timetable.

Four bores, and one of them changes direction

The Caldecott has four bores. The fourth opened in 2013 and eased a long-standing problem: for decades the middle bore was reversed by time of day to follow the commute, which meant the tunnel's capacity in your direction depended on the hour and on somebody physically changing the configuration.

The practical consequence for a driver today is still worth knowing. Which bores serve your direction is signed at the approach, and lane assignments into the bores are made before you enter, not inside. Sort out which bore you want on the approach, because there is no lane changing to be done once you are in a tube.

What tunnels do to drivers

Three predictable effects, and all of them are about your eyes.

• Entering, you go from bright daylight to artificial light and your vision takes a few seconds to adjust. Those seconds happen at full speed.
• Inside, the walls are close and the lighting is even, which removes most of the peripheral cues you unconsciously use to judge speed. People routinely drift faster than they realize in tunnels, and just as routinely drift slower.
• Exiting westbound in the afternoon, you come out of a lit tube directly into low sun over the bay. That transition is genuinely blinding and it happens exactly where traffic is compressing for the downgrade.

Headlights on before you enter, low beams, and a following distance chosen for the transitions rather than the middle.

The rules inside are not suggestions

No lane changes. No stopping. Certain vehicles carrying hazardous materials are restricted from tunnels and are routed around, which is why you occasionally see a truck taking a surface route that makes no sense otherwise.

If your vehicle fails inside a bore, the priority is not the car. Get it as far right as you can, hazard lights on, and follow the tunnel's own instructions and any staff direction. A stopped vehicle in a tunnel is a serious incident for everyone behind you, and the systems and staff are there for exactly that.

The downgrade on both sides

Route 24 descends steeply on the Oakland side, and long constant braking heats brakes until they fade. Select a lower gear and let the drivetrain hold your speed, using the brakes in firm short applications instead of a continuous drag. This is standard advice everywhere and people ignore it everywhere, right up until the pedal goes soft.

The stop-and-go claim

The approach queue produces the same collision every day: a low-speed rear-end impact in compressing traffic. Nobody is badly hurt, both cars drive off, and the repair on a modern bumper with sensors behind it is larger than the damage looks.

Two honest points about that. The following driver carries a strong presumption of fault, though not an automatic one. And if the repair is anywhere near your deductible, get a written estimate before you decide to file, because a claim close to the deductible costs you most of the repair anyway and stays on your record. Anything involving another person or a possible injury is a different matter and should be reported.

Wondering whether your deductible still makes sense? We will show you the options side by side.