Caltrans Places Barriers Along Stretch Of Hwy 1 After Fatal Accidents
MONTARA (KPIX 5) -- A Bay Area father who has been trying to make a stretch of Highway 1 safer for months following the fatal accident his son died in while driving in the area on Friday got a bittersweet victory.
It's believed 22-year Richard Moss's car went careening over the cliff on Highway 1 just north of Montara in late May.
"He's a 22-year-old kid. He should have hit those guardrails and bounced back," said family friend Susan Miller.
Nearly four months to the day after Moss disappeared, Caltrans installed cement barricades along the windy stretch of Highway 1 about a mile south of the Tom Lantos Tunnel.
That is where parts of the young man's car have washed ashore.
For family and friends, it was good but sad news.
"I'm grateful that they're there. But I'm frustrated too," said Miller. "I'd much rather have Richard back."
Caltrans said they're planning to eventually extend the existing guard rail. Officials were moved to act by Moss's death as well as the fatal accident that took the life of Rose de alba in the same location eight months earlier.
"We re-evaluated what was going on out there and decided it was an appropriate location for a barricade," said Caltrans Spokesperson Bob Haus.
But some drivers KPIX 5 spoke to in the area Friday questioned why it took two tragedies before something was done.
"Why did somebody have to die? Where's the preventative maintenance? What took them so long to put this together?" asked concerned driver Andrew Debartolo.