February… a month that brings to mind… freeway closures. I’m not talking about closures due to rain, but -maggedon closures of the 101 downtown and the 91 in Corona. But those are now past us, so what else has happened this month: (as always, the information in the linked articles will find its way onto my California Highways website).
- Crews work to tear down major section of old Bay Bridge. Caltrans crews are working to remove a major section of the old Bay Bridge Thursday morning. Crews started working around 6 a.m. to remove the first 504-foot truss span, Caltrans officials said. The removal should take two 14 hour days, according to Caltrans officials.
- Can bigger and brighter signs prevent wrong-way crashes on San Diego freeways?. Wrong-way drivers killed 13 people on San Diego freeways last year, a number that has prompted state officials to take measures to keep motorists going the right way. Caltrans is conducting a pilot program that calls for improved warning devices, such as bigger signs, flashing lights and sensors on offramps along Interstate 15 through much of San Diego County. Researchers will study what systems work to reduce the number of drivers who enter the freeway at those locations.
- Engineers zero in on design for bike path on Bay Bridge western span. Transportation officials are narrowing the final designs for a bike and pedestrian path on the western span of the Bay Bridge, something bike advocates have been dreaming about for decades. But it could still be another decade before the 2.9-mile structure from Yerba Buena Island to San Francisco is funded and built, according to the Bay Area Toll Authority.
- New Bay Bridge corrosion probe: Concrete chunk falls in tunnel. Caltrans is investigating possible corrosion in the Bay Bridge’s Yerba Buena Island tunnel after a chunk of the concrete wall tumbled into the roadway and narrowly missed hitting a motorist, officials said. The semicircular piece of the wall, about 2½ feet square and as much as 3-inches thick, fell into the path of a car in the slow lane of the eastbound, lower-deck tunnel the afternoon of Jan. 30. The car, a Ford Fusion, suffered scrapes and a blown tire when it ran over the concrete, but the driver escaped injury.
- Crews dismantle portion of old Bay Bridge. California officials say a major portion of the old eastern span of San Francisco’s old Bay Bridge began coming down this week. By Saturday, a truss span had been be lowered onto barges but had yet to be transported to the Port of Oakland, where it will be broken apart and its scrap metal recycled. The truss spans are the sections between the towers where the roadway sat.
- New express lanes opening on I-580. Bay Area drivers, the era of highway express lanes is dawning. Starting this month, a 14-mile stretch of carpool lanes that will double as toll lanes — allowing solo drivers to use them for a price — will open on Interstate 580 from Dublin to Livermore. It’s only the beginning. In the next couple of years toll lanes will be added to Interstate 680 in Contra Costa County and I-880 in the East Bay and extended on Highway 237. Within another decade, about 300 miles worth of toll lanes will be rolled out in the region, including Highways 85 and 101 in the South Bay.
- Improvements Move Forward on I-5 South Project. Work is continuing on the foundation and the substructure for the new I-5 bridge over Avenida Pico in San Clemente, part of the $230 million I-5 South County Improvements Project. The project is rebuilding the interchange in order to extend the carpool lane in both directions from San Juan Creek Road in San Juan Capistrano to Avenida Pico in San Clemente.
- City to Caltrans: We want our trees . The City of Thousand Oaks is asking Caltrans to make good on its promise to plant new trees in the place of those removed during the expansion of the 101-23 interchange. In a Jan. 14 letter obtained by the Acorn, Thousand Oaks Public Works Director Jay Spurgin writes Caltrans District 7 Director Carrie Bowen to address the state agency’s plans to hold off on the proposed planting work until after drought conditions improve and the use of potable water is no longer restricted for landscape purposes.
- Caltrans Finds More Corrosion Problems In Bay Bridge Tunnel. There could be bigger problems when it comes to corrosion in the Bay Bridge tunnel after Caltrans discovered a dozen spots in the tunnel where concrete is in danger of breaking away from the wall. The tunnel that goes through Yerba Buena island is what Caltrans is focusing on ever since a car was hit by falling concrete back on January 30th.
- Caltrans finds series of weak spots in Yerba Buena Tunnel. Caltrans says there is a series of weak spots inside the Yerba Buena Tunnel. It is concrete that has been compromised by rainwater leaking into the 80-year-old structure. In January, a car was hit by a falling piece of concrete and it seems that incident inside the Yerba Buena Tunnel wasn’t as isolated as Caltrans first announced.
- More damage found to concrete wall in Bay Bridge tunnel. Corrosion in the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge’s Yerba Buena Island tunnel that caused a concrete chunk to break loose last month and narrowly miss a motorist is more widespread than the state first believed. The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://sfg.ly/1VzmT8D ) Monday that Caltrans has found 12 spots in the tunnel where concrete was in danger of breaking away from the wall since a Jan. 30 incident in which a tire-size piece fell into traffic on the lower deck.
- I-580 toll lanes open Friday and Monday in Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin. The new era of toll lanes arrives on Interstate 580 on Friday morning with the opening of two new eastbound express lanes that are free to carpools but open to solo drivers at a price. The lanes were scheduled to open by 5 a.m. on a freeway segment through Livermore, Dublin and Pleasanton. Another toll lane in the opposite direction along westbound I-580 is scheduled to open by 5 a.m. Monday, the Alameda County Transportation Commission announced Thursday.
- As highway funds vanish, Petaluma project in limbo. A once promising $20 million funding package for Highway 101 widening south of Petaluma now appears to be in jeopardy, sending Sonoma County transportation officials back to the drawing board in search of money. The regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission in December voted to support the highway widening project between the Petaluma River Bridge and the Marin County line. Completing that project would allow officials to open almost five miles of carpool lanes south of Petaluma.
- Major Changes May Come to Bay Area Planning As MTC and ABAG Move Toward Merger. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are responsible for housing and transportation planning for the Bay Area, including the controversial “Plan Bay Area” mandate. Now there’s talk of merging the two agencies, with a study underway on how that could be accomplished. But critics argue that the merger process lacks transparency, and that a consolidated agency will take decision-making out of the hands of local communities. We’ll discuss the benefits and drawbacks of a potential merger.
- New Freeway Ramp Would Dump Cars Onto Bike-Friendly Zone. The big pedestrian- and bike-friendly MyFigueroa Figueroa Street makeover project has jumped a lot of hurdles and is supposed to (finally) be getting underway this spring, but a recently proposed flyover ramp coming off the 110 Freeway might add an unforeseen pain point to the otherwise smooth new walking and biking experience along the corridor. The Caltrans ramp (“Interstate 110 High-Occupancy Toll Lanes Flyover Project”) would allow ExpressLanes drivers to get off the northbound 110 and end up on Figueroa just south of 23rd Street, right onto a section of the street that’s going to have brand-new bike lanes, says Streetsblog.
- Carmageddon 2016: Everything You Need to Know About Full 91 Freeway Shutdown. Transportation officials Tuesday released an online webcast of a public meeting about the upcoming two-day shutdown of one of the Inland Empire’s busiest travel corridors — the Riverside (91) Freeway. The Riverside County Transportation Commission held the Feb. 6 meeting at the Corona Public Library to give an overview of the closure’s expected impacts, including what measures will be put in place to lessen inconveniences to local residents.
- After Coronageddon success, more 91 shutdowns possible, official says. Last weekend’s closure of the Inland area’s busiest highway was such a success that transportation officials may try a similar shutdown to further accelerate their freeway construction project. The 55-hour closure of the 91 through Corona allowed crews to complete three major facets of the $1.4 billion highway expansion at once – instead of doing piecemeal work over the next three months.
- The Bay Area’s Coming ‘Freeway Revolution’. This will not be a revolution against freeways, as some may have hoped, but a revolution marked by new express lanes totaling 550 miles, beginning with a new stretch of 14 miles on I-580 through Dublin, Pleasanton, and Livermore in the East Bay.
- Alabama, 10 Freeway interchange in Redlands to be improved. Following up on the realignment of the Redlands Boulevard and Alabama Street intersection, the city is now looking to improve the 10 Freeway interchange at Alabama. The city will enter into an agreement with San Bernardino Associated Governments, or SanBAG, to proceed with the design and funding arrangement for the project, which has been refined to cut costs.
- High Desert Corridor. The High Desert Corridor (HDC) project is considering construction of a new multi-modal link between State Route (SR)-14 in Los Angeles County and SR-18 in San Bernardino County. This project would connect some of the fastest growing residential, commercial and industrial areas in Southern California, including the cities of Palmdale, Lancaster, Adelanto, Victorville and the Town of Apple Valley. While recent economic conditions have slowed growth throughout California, projections show that there will be significant growth in the HDC area again in the future.
- Popular Waze Navigation App Driving Some People Crazy. Waze calls itself the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app that allows users to share real-time traffic and road information, saving them time and money on their daily commute. But while the app is popular with many commuters, it is driving some people living in quiet neighborhoods crazy. Josh Kraakevik is a business consultant who lives in Costa Mesa but works in Downtown Los Angeles. He leaves for his daily commute before the sun comes up.
- LA Freeway Is the Heart of a City. On the night of June 23, 1997, champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya was driving his brother’s Mercedes on the 605 Freeway near Whittier. He was in the fast lane and suddenly the car stalled. He maneuvered the car to the left shoulder but couldn’t find his cell phone. Common wisdom dictates that if your vehicle stalls on the freeway you should wait in the car and call for help, but De La Hoya felt differently. He opened the car door, waited for a gap in traffic, and sprinted across five lanes to the other side of the freeway. Moments later a massive truck smashed into his Mercedes, totaling the car.
- 110, 10 Freeway ExpressLanes are slowing down and officials aren’t sure of the fix. Metro ExpressLanes are not living up to their name. Since opening up miles of pay lanes as an experiment three years ago, too many solo drivers are riding the converted car-pool lanes on segments of the 110 and 10 freeways, causing speeds to drop to levels that could result in federal highway funds being withheld. To fix the problem, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board raised the price of a peak ride by 10 cents per mile, effective Feb. 1. Metro lowered the off-peak toll by 15 cents. Both are efforts to move solo commuters out of pay lanes during morning rush hours and into off-peak periods on the ExpressLanes along the Harbor and San Bernardino freeways, explained Shahrzad Amiri, Metro’s executive officer, for congestion reduction programs.
- Help design better Express Lane signage across the nation. The Federal Highway Administration is conducting a national assessment study geared toward providing better signage and guidance for motorists using Express Lanes across the nation. In many cities around the country, Express Lanes of varying types are used to limit access to carpools or to those who have paid a toll.
- Can new La Mirada plans to widen Imperial Highway help congestion?. For years, the Imperial Highway-La Mirada Boulevard-Telegraph Road intersection has been congested, with no solution in sight. But city officials now have a plan to add an extra lane on the west bound (north side) of Imperial Highway to try and relieve some of the problem. “This is the probably the busiest intersection of the city,” said Public Works Director Mark Stowell. “This will definitely help Imperial. It’s in need of three through lanes.”
- Planning Unveils Initial Study On Rerouting Rail Lines, Razing Portion Of I-280. Will part of I-280 be razed? How might a high-speed rail line enter the city? And what will become of the Mission Bay area once tracks are rerouted and housing built? Those were some of the questions which drew hundreds of local residents to a meeting at the Potrero Hill Community Center on Tuesday evening, where the Planning Department previewed initial findings from the first phase of a long-range study dubbed the Rail Yard Alternatives and I-280 Boulevard Feasibility Study (RAB).
- Demolition of one-mile stretch of I-280 part of proposal to link Mission Bay with surrounding area. Mission Bay is San Francisco’s neighborhood of the future. That’s Mayor Ed Lee’s publicly stated vision. And in public documents, his office said a key to that future may be razing Interstate Highway 280 — now the source of much public ire. Mission Bay has become home to gleaming new UC San Francisco hospitals, and is the potential new home to what some call the mayor’s “legacy project” — the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center. The Mission Rock and Pier 70 housing developments could also soon considerably boost the neighborhood’s population.
- New Highway 4/160 connector ramps open. Residents of Brentwood, Oakley and other communities in the far eastern areas of Contra Costa will be enjoying improved access to and from the Antioch Bridge beginning this week. Local transportation agencies opened a pair of ramps, one connecting westbound Highway 4 to Highway 160 leading to the bridge and the other connecting southbound Highway 160 to eastbound Highway 4, on Monday.
- $50M project to add highway connections near Antioch complete. A $50 million project to add new highway connections near Antioch has been completed after nearly three years of construction work, county transportation officials announced Monday. Elected officials and Contra Costa Transportation Authority leaders gathered today to celebrate the opening of connector ramps between state Highway 160, the Senator John A. Nejedly Bridge and state Highway 4.
- Celebrating 20 Years: The 91 Express Lanes 2015 Annual Report. Now available online, the new annual report commemorates 20 years of on-time performance as well as the significant milestones achieved in fiscal year 2014-2015. For many of our customers, the 91 Express Lanes is much more than just a road. As part of our 20th anniversary celebration, hundreds shared their stories about how this safe, swift and reliable transportation alternative improved their quality of life.
