MST moves forward with plans for a new bus lane along Highway 1, from Marina to Seaside.

Drive along Highway 1 between Seaside and Marina sometimes and it’s a fast-moving road. Drive it other times of day – weekdays at rush hour, or on weekends during tourist season – and it’s a parking lot. Officials at Monterey-Salinas Transit are hoping to incentivize taking the bus by building a bus rapid transit lane alongside a six-mile stretch of Highway 1 that would enable riders to zoom past that traffic.

But the proposed project, called the SURF! Busway, might not be zooming toward approval. In March, MST and the Transportation Agency for Monterey County released a mitigated negative declaration, a document prepared for projects that won’t have significant adverse impacts as required by the California Environmental Quality Act.

The MST board is scheduled to vote on June 14 on whether to approve the project, but about a dozen letters received in the public comment process ask MST to slow down.

“The proposed project will result in significant coastal access and recreation impacts, including to Fort Ord Dunes State Park and the adjacent recreation trail, and thus the proposed project is inconsistent with [the California Coastal Act] and cannot be approved,” Mike Watson, a planner at the California Coastal Commission, wrote. “We strongly suggest that MST take a pause.”

The group Keep Fort Ord Wild contends the environmental benefits promised by better bus service don’t outweigh the harm, and asks for a more thorough analysis via an environmental impact report. California State Parks similarly asks for an EIR to evaluate alternatives, particularly in light of a campground at Fort Ord Dunes State Park that’s underway.