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Summary: San Francisco faces erosion
that could cause harmful effects on the “great highway” a huge stretch of
highway that is on the land side of the erosion. The main question many
counties are asking are shall they try and artificially reconstruct the beach,
or let Mother Nature take its course. Millions of dollars are at stake as officials
decide what to do with the beach. Ocean
beach is a “hot spot” for erosion and even though it has been expanded many
times, it still faces huge effects from the erosion. The answer right now for the erosion is dumping tons of sand on the beach regularly, provided by the Army Corps of Engineers. The sand needs to be dumped so the waters are deep enough for the huge ships coming from the golden gate bridge can pass through. Another plan drafted for the issue of the erosion coming close to the "Great Highway" is to take the highway from four lanes to two lanes. Also the southern section of the highway would have to be closed, but this plan will take close to 30 million dollars.
Opinion: I have no idea how much of an issue erosion was in San Francisco. I only thought that erosion was on a small scale at the beaches all over the country. The amount of money and time put into keeping the Ocean Beach from disappearing completely is insane. The tons and tons of sand going into the beach can not be cheap. Plus if the highway has to be rerouted then that could cost another 30 million dollars. If I had to make the decison to keep saving the beach or let Mother Nature take its course I have no idea what I would do. That is a really tough decsion to make.
Questions
1. What would you do, keep saving the beach or let Mother Nature take its course?
2.
Until i read this article i had absolutely no idea that erosion was such a big issue. Ever since we were little we were just told how erosion is a part of beaches and how it impacts rocks and other substances around it, but now looking at much wider and harmful aspect, it really is shocking. We have been talking about the properties of water in class, and how it is essential to life, but this shows the negative side of the force of water. I agree with Kate that the path to take for this issue is definitely not straight-forward. The answer of dumping tons of sand on the beach regularly may be a help, but in my opinion it kind of seems absurd and overboard in effort and in time. I personally don't believe that this plan will be very effective in the long term. There needs to be a more critical change and fast change made by the government on how to fix this problem as soon as possible. Also, the fact that the high-way would have to be transformed from 4 lanes to 2 lanes, is a very unpractical thing for the public trying to travel in a fast pace. According to this issue, and what has already been attempted, I don't think there yet has been created a plan that makes sense economically, practically, and efficiently, and I hope if it is possible to consider all those things that a plan keeping these things in mind is put into place soon.
ReplyDeleteMORE QUESTIONS
1) Are there any other countries or areas that are facing this problem? If so, how are they dealing with it and has it been improved, and if it has why doesn't the situation in San Francisco try the same thing?
2) To what extent can erosion harm an area? Is it possible for the erosion to get further into the communities and harm other structures? Isn't there any ways to prevent this?
3) Is there a technique that has been used anywhere else in the world that has worked long term and not caused any harmful changes to nature or the public?
4) In any way was this issue of erosion (indirectly or directly) caused by the actions of humans? And is there anything humans can do on a daily basis to stop from this erosion to keep coming closer and closer to populated areas?
Opinion: This article puts erosion into reality for me. I was suprised at how much effect erosion can have. It is effecting the highway, the beach and the boats traveling along the water. Erosion is a huge problem today and it needs to be stopped. The problem is finding the solution to stop the erosion. Every solution that Kate talked about in the summary had a postive effect in the short term, but could have negative effects on either the highway, the beach or the boats traveling along the water in the long term. If we let Mother Nature takes its course it could cause major problems with the highway, but if we try to dump sand onto the beach it will cause problems with the boats traveling along the water. I think the best idea is to make the highway a two land highway instead of a four lane highway. Even though this will slow down travel and cost a lot of money, it will not cause any extreme problems for nature. Also, the problems that it causes are not major. This connects to me because I have been to San Fransisco and have seen the beautiful boats that travel under the Golden Gate Bridge. If this erosion continues and they decide to add sand to the beach, these boats will not be able to travel very far and the San Fransisco water ways will lose their beauty and ways of transportation.
ReplyDeleteExpansion:
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/inexpensive-prevent-erosion.htm
This is a mini article about how you can prevent erosion near your home. These ideas are inexpensive and almost everybody can do them. It also states that erosion effects everyone, so we need to do everything we can to stop it. An example of one of the ways to stop erosion is to grow plants and trees on slopes because grass will not stop erosion on slopes.
I had no idea that erosion was a problem in San Francisco. I, like Kate, though erosion only happened in small scale at beaches all over America. I did not realize how it is impacting more places like highways near water. I was also shocked to hear that it will cost 30 million dollars to redo the “Great Highway.” That is a lot of money to repair one highway but it for the better. We as a country need safe traveling roots and if we have to mess with mother nature, then so be it. I would usually hate going against nature but do to this circumstance, I’d rather keep my country safe (answer to question 1). America is a growing country with new technology that needs to be used and by redoing the highway, we are putting that new technology to good use and hopefully for the better.
ReplyDeletehttp://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2010/10/17/grthighwayreopens/- This is an article and picture that relates to the San Francisco article that Kate talks about in her summary.
Questions:
1)What are some ways to keep our high ways safe but not disturb nature?
2)How many people will be affected by this problem?
3) How can we fix the high ways and not pay 30 million dollars?
Opinion: As all the others said, I never knew erosion was such a large issue, and that it can possibly wear away many important structures, such as the Great Highway. I think the two choices - letting Mother Nature take its course or rerouting the highway - is a lose-lose situation. If we let Mother Nature take its course, it might be difficult for transportation to get around the area. If the highway is rerouted, millions and millions of dollars have to be spent. Despite this situation, I would personally choose to reroute and redo the highway. Even though millions of dollars have to be spent, I think transportation routes are more important in this case. This reminds me of the times I have driven on roadways near a beach; I never realized how precious the roadways are, and that erosion can possibly tear away the roadway.
ReplyDeleteExpanion: http://www.sfdpw.org/index.aspx?page=718
This article says all the things that are being done to help the Great Highway from the erosion happening near it. Many things are being/were done; one being the closure of the southern lanes from a winter storm that brought in deadly erosion, and another being the removal of 1,000 tons of debris from the beach.