August — The month for roadtrips. Hopefully, some of you have been having fun on California’s roads. Me? It’s been a roadtrip to Madison Wisconsin via I-15, I-70, I-76, I-80 and US 151. The return, through St. Louis, has been an equal roadtrip: I-90, I-39, I-55, I-44 (US 66), I-40 (US 66), and I-15. Of course, in and out of LA, we did the high desert route: Route 18, Route 138, and Route 14. If you want to read about those trips, I’ve done three posts: (#1: Get Your Kicks on Route 66; #2: The Evolution of the Hotel; and #3: Confederate Statues and Route 66). Of course, if you just want to read about what’s happening in hot California, here are the headlines I’ve accumulated this month:
- OCTA Secures $629 Million Federal Loan for I-405 Improvement Project. A loan secured by OCTA marks a major milestone in funding the I-405 Improvement Project while saving taxpayers millions of dollars. Last week, OCTA signed the final documents with the U.S. Department of Transportation for the $627 million loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA). The TIFIA loan will pay for a major portion of the $1.9 billion worth of freeway improvements set to begin construction early next year.
- I-5 South County Improvements Project Overhead Sign Work is Completed. Construction crews have completed the overhead carpool sign installation on southbound and northbound I-5. The lane and full freeway closures for this work on I-5 are now complete. The construction on the I-5 South County Improvements Project began in 2014. The project will add nearly six miles of carpool lanes in each direction from Avenida Pico in San Clemente to San Juan Creek Road in San Juan Capistrano. The overhead sign work is part of the project’s San Juan Creek Road to PCH Segment. The remaining work on this portion of the project includes realignment of the median barrier, landscaping installation and final striping.
- Highway 1 to be rebuilt on top of Mud Creek Slide. Here’s how Caltrans will do it. Drivers on Highway 1 will be going over — not around or through — the Mud Creek Slide when the coast route reopens. “The new roadway will be realigned across the landslide,” the agency said Tuesday in a news release, adding that the highway will be “buttressed with a series of embankments, berms, rocks, netting, culverts and other stabilizing material.”
