Devil’s Slide Near Pacifica: How a Former Highway Became a Coastal Trail
By Matthew Martinez, Founder, CEO & Managing Broker, Diamond Real Estate Group. California DRE #01869679.
Devil’s Slide Trail retains the width and engineered surface of a former highway while offering an entirely different pace of movement. The old road now supports a coastal walk or ride, with overlooks and interpretation replacing the experience of driving through a difficult cliffside corridor.
The transformation shows how a new transportation route can give an older one a second public purpose. It also makes the coastline’s geology easier to read at close range.
The tunnel changed the old road’s role
The county’s trail history records the Tom Lantos Tunnels opening in 2013, retiring the section of Highway 1 that reopened as a recreational trail in 2014. The current trail page gives the route’s length as 1.3 miles.
The former vehicle corridor became a segment of the California Coastal Trail. The change did not require inventing an entirely new alignment; it adapted infrastructure whose original through-traffic function had moved elsewhere.
That is a distinct form of public-space creation. A road’s pavement, grade and cut slopes become the starting conditions for a different kind of use.
The path was organized for several types of movement
The county’s current trail description identifies a paved multi-use route with separate lanes for walkers and directional bicycle traffic. It also describes overlooks with benches and observation scopes.
These features change the relationship between movement and stopping. A highway is designed around continued vehicle travel; a trail can make the pause part of the experience, providing places to look without occupying the main route.
The county’s interpretation addresses the area’s history, geography and wildlife. The path is therefore both a connection and an outdoor way of explaining the coast.
The cliffs reveal different kinds of rock
The county’s natural-features account distinguishes granitic rock at the southern end from folded sedimentary shale and sandstone at the northern end. It explains that the sedimentary layers were once part of the ocean floor.
This contrast makes the route more than a viewpoint. The visible rock records different origins and later forces that brought materials into their present relationship.
A uniform-looking coastline on a regional map can contain markedly different structures over a short distance. The cliff faces make that variation visible.
The landscape continues to change
The natural-features account describes weakened rock, groundwater movement and surf removing material at the base of the slide. These processes explain the repeated historical road problems and the continuing movement of the coastal slope.
A paved surface does not mean the surrounding landscape is fixed. The trail is maintained infrastructure within an active coastal setting, which is why current notices and established boundaries remain part of using it.
The county also describes fencing and vegetation arranged to reduce disturbance of nesting common murres. Some boundaries serve wildlife protection as well as separating visitors from difficult ground.
The trail changes how the coast can be understood
Moving slowly allows relationships to become clearer: folded layers above, waves below, birds using offshore habitat and an old highway grade connecting the viewpoints.
For someone considering Pacifica and the northern San Mateo coast, such places explain the setting beyond a photograph of ocean views. The coast is a working combination of natural processes, engineered routes and managed public access.
Explore real estate and home for sale in Pacifica and our shoreline property comparison. Contact Diamond to compare homes with attention to the actual coastal setting and local connections.
Sources checked October 28, 2026. This account does not assess a nearby property’s slope stability. Consult the county for current trail access and closures.
