DEL MAR — A group of residents from the south end of the city has organized to stop the destruction of some 30 Portofino Drive residences by Caltrans so it can build a connector between I-5 and SR 56. The organization says it will oppose the effort to the bitter end. Will it have the staying power?

The last time Caltrans (then known as the California Division of Highways) bowed to major concerns of citizens was in the 1940s. It all started when a young inquisitive reporter for the San Dieguito Citizen was tooling south near Ponto and noticed a newly erected cyclone fence with a sign announcing it was to be the route for a coast freeway. He reported his finding to the newspaper’s publisher Noel Lapham, which prompted a call to Sacramento and the first local inkling that the state highway department was planning to extend the freeway that ended in Carlsbad through the San Dieguito district along the coast.

E.E. Wallace, state highway engineer, envisioned a scenic route so motorists traveling south through the area at 70 miles per hour could enjoy the ocean view similar to the freeway north of Santa Barbara where waves crash over the highway during exceptionally high tides and storms. Wallace was adamant about the route. He opined his department had designed highway routes since Father Junipero Serra trekked north designating mission sites.

However, the highway designers had never encountered such a group of feisty residents as headed by Herschell Larrick Sr. of Solana Beach and locals from Leucadia to Del Mar. They lobbied politicians from the governor down to the Board of Supervisors against a coast route.

Finally after 10 years, the highway commission got the message and July 24, l957, it adopted the current inland freeway route. Although the freeway now slices Encinitas, Cardiff-by-the-Sea and Solana Beach in half, at that time there was nothing east of the freeway except snakes, rabbits, other wildlife and sagebrush.

In June 1961, freeway construction bids were opened and June 21, 1966, then Surfside City Mayor Earl Maas had the pleasure of snipping a ribbon just north of La Costa and leading a parade of dignitaries down the freeway to Carmel Valley. By then, Wallace had retired and a young Jacob Dekema was among the celebrants. He had announced earlier that he had no intention of challenging Larrick’s victorious group that became known as the Highway Selection Committee.

Will the Carmel Valley folks match this grit and determination? Stay tuned.