Author: cahwyguy

Two-thirds of the year is now past. This has been an … interesting August. We’ve had intense heat, and surprisingly, a tropical storm that has inundated our low-lying deserts and flooded roads. In the northern part of the state, we’ve had some intense brush fires. The impact of these should be showing up in future emergency road repair requests. Hopefully, everyone has been safe through all of this.

Work is continuing on the highway pages. I’ve gone through the June and July headlines; after this post is up, I’ll do the August headlines. I’ve also started working through the June and August CTC minutes. Also still to go is the review of the actions of the legislature, and the review of the posts since the last update on AARoads. Hopefully, I’ll have something to post by mid-September. I’m also working on writing the first few episodes of the next season of the podcast, so we can start recording them.

Roadtrips in July include a trip up and back to Davis, and a trip out to Las Vegas and back. Don’t care about the gambling. However, if you want to know some great restaurants in the area (off-strip), just ask.

Well, enough chit-chat. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for August:

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor.]

California Highways: Route by Route Podcast

The podcast is currently on a break between Season 1 and Season 2. Back episodes are available at the Podcast’s forever home, as well as on its Spotify for Podcasters home. The Spotify (nee Anchor.FM) link also has links to the podcast’s page on most major podcasting services.

Highway Headlines

• ＄Why the lights on freeway onramp can’t end traffic jams (Los Angeles Times). It’s hard to enter a highway in Los Angeles County without encountering a stoplight at the end of the entrance ramp — a pause that’s supposed to ease the crush of rush-hour traffic. But like many Angelenos, West Valley driver Liza Olson wonders what, exactly, those lights are accomplishing. “Have you ever sat at a freeway metering light that’s red while hardly any cars zip by? Have you ever driven through a freeway metering light that’s green only to join gridlock? What gives?” Olson asked in a recent email.
• Work on Avenue J interchange begins (Antelope Valley Press). Crews will start work Monday to expand the Avenue J interchange at the Antelope Valley Freeway/State Route 14. The $28.8 million project includes widening the existing northbound on- and off-ramps. There will also be four new retaining walls and new on- and off-ramps on the south side of Avenue J. The project will be funded with Measure R funds by the city of Lancaster, Caltrans and the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Lancaster received $65 million in Meas­ure R funds about 11 years ago to make major upgrades to the highway interchanges at avenues G, J, K and L and Columbia Way (Avenue M) over the next four years to improve traffic flow and safety.
• The cost of convenience (BenitoLink). San Benito County is changing. And while it might feel like it’s sudden to some residents as they watch construction machinery and safety rails along Hwy 156 between Hollister and San Juan Bautista taking over agricultural land, it’s been over 20 years in the making. Two other transportation projects moving forward are the Hwy 25 widening, between San Felipe Road and the county line, which will eventually go to the Hwy 101/25 intersection and the new trade corridor, which is connecting Hwy 152 to Hwy 25 somewhere in the area of Shore Rd.
• Work at Paul’s Slide on Highway 1 paused as crews assess recent slide activity (KSBY). Debris removal work at Paul’s Slide on Highway 1 has been paused as crews assess recent movement of the hillside, Caltrans announced Wednesday. Geological engineering (“Geotech”) crews studying measurements of recent slide activity will determine the specific next steps for repair efforts, which have prioritized — and will continue to prioritize — the safety of crew members who have been working “almost nonstop” since March to remove slide material and stabilize the hillside, according to Caltrans.
• Recent slide activity along Hwy 1 in Big Sur could further delay reopening (KSBY). Recent slide activity along the Big Sur Coastal Highway could further delay reopening. Adam Oates, who is visiting the Central Coast from Bakersfield, originally planned to drive north with his family all the way to Monterey. But he says the road closure along the Big Sur Highway drastically reduced the distance of their trip. “Uh it cut it in half. It literally cut the distance in half,” said Oates. Though disappointed the trip would be cut short — his family still decided to visit the areas that are open. “It is what it is,” said Oates.
• Caltrans adding ‘safety and beautification’ improvements along Highway 99 (Fox 40 Sacramento). If you’re driving along Highway 99 in South Sacramento, you may look out your windshield and notice some aesthetically pleasing visuals on your journey. Those visuals are courtesy of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), which has begun implementing “safety and beautification” improvements to Highway 99. “Working with community groups, several ‘river-themed’ additions have been added to this 9-mile stretch of the highway,” the department said in a social media post. The accompanying image shows the bright blue river covering the wall of the underpass on Broadway and Florin Road. Another image shows a light brown wall with a black design that mimics the appearance of trees on the horizon.

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Boy, we now look back fondly on the cloudy and dreary June, don’t we. It has been hot hot hot, with numerous days well over 100°, at least here in the San Fernando Valley. It makes me thankful that I (a) have LADWP (for the new Net Metering doesn’t apply to municipal electric), (b) I have a goodly sized solar system. I’ve recovered from my MOHS surgery. I haven’t had time for any road trips, but there should be some during August. I’ve also started work on the next round of updates to the highway pages, and expect those to be done sometime in September.

I’m also really happy because I finally have a reasonable solution to syncing my iTunes library to my Android phone (and am finally away from iSyncr, my previous solution). The new solution involves Syncthing, which is open-source software that runs on a variety of platforms that allows you to syncrhonize or mirror directories. So I mirror my iTunes Music library to my phone.  I then use GoneMad Media Player as my music player (as it works very well playing music stored locally on my phone, and has smart playlists).  Lastly, I have a perl script I’ve written that can take a saved stats.xml file from GMMP, combine it with the data in the iTunes Library.XML, and generate a new stats.xml file to load back into GMMP. This gives me my metadata. The script also produces copies of the playlists as .m3u files, suitable to copy to the phone. The only thing this doesn’t do is move metadata back into iTunes, but you can’t have everything. Email me if you need more details.

The last episode of the first season of the podcast is now up. Season 2 will have 10 episodes on Route 1, and two on Route 2. I’ll start writing the episodes in the next month or so, and hopefully we’ll be back in late September or October. Visit our Spotify for Podcast episodes page, our main podcast site, or use your favorite podcasting app to catch up on our back episodes. We have a 6-part series on the history of the state highway system, and a 4-part series on highway numbering.

What else? We’re still attending theatre: recent shows have included Beetlejuice at the Pantages; Cinderella at 5-Star, and Stew at the Pasadena Playhouse.

OK. You should be caught up now. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for July:

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor.]

California Highways: Route by Route Podcast

• CARxR 1.12: The Organizations of the State Highway System. We close season 1 of the podcast with an episode that focuses on the organizations involved with the State Highway System. In this episode, we discuss organizations you might have heard about, but don’t know about: The California Transportation Commission, the California Coastal Commission, Caltrans, the Regional Transportation Planning Agencies, and AASHTO. After this episode we’re taking a short break, but should be back in the fall when we’ll start exploring the California state highway system, route by route.

Back episodes are available at the Podcast’s forever home, as well as on its Spotify for Podcasters home. The Spotify (nee Anchor.FM) link also has links to the podcast’s page on most major podcasting services.

Highway Headlines

• Caltrans earmarks $2.3B for future state transportation projects (The Sun-Gazette Newspaper). The California Transportation Commission recently invested close to $2 billion into improving the state’s transportation infrastructure. Not only that, the commission also approved an additional $2.3 billion for future projects in Fresno and Tulare County areas, including ones in Kingsburg, Visalia and Parlier. The nearly $2 billion allocation announced on June 29 reflects over $571 million in funding from the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and over $257 million in funding from Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017.
• State grants extension for Highway 156 interchange project (KSBW 8). The Transportation Agency for Monterey County announced several extensions for the Highway 156/Castroville Boulevard project. The project, approved under Monterey County’s Measure X in 2016 by 67.7% of Monterey County voters, was initially delayed by PG&E utility relocation work. In May, TAMC announced that the project was not expected to meet all the criteria by the June 30 funding deadline. In their June meeting, the California Transportation Commission approved an environmental impact report for the project. A 12-month time extension was also approved to request the $20 million Trade Corridor Enhancement Program funding. The extension provides time for PG&E to complete the utility relocation work and for Caltrans to finish right-of-way certification.
• California Invests Nearly $2 Billion in Transportation Infrastructure, Approves Another $2.3 Billion for Future Projects (Caltrans). The California Transportation Commission (CTC) this week invested nearly $2 billion into improving the state’s transportation infrastructure while approving an additional $2.3 billion for future projects. The nearly $2 billion allocation reflects more than $571 million in funding from the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and more than $257 million in funding from Senate Bill (SB) 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The $2.3 billion is comprised of $1.75 billion representing the third funding cycle of programs established by SB 1 and $540 million in active transportation projects sponsored by local metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs), charting the course for future allocations. The additional $1.7 billion for future investments cover three SB 1 competitive grant programs: $1.1 billion for the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP); $507.4 million for the Solutions for Congested Corridors Program (SCCP); and $142.4 million for the Local Partnership Program (LPP). The programs included, for the first time, input from the new Interagency Equity Advisory Committee in the evaluation of projects. This funding round also marks the first cycle to incorporate all principles of the state’s Climate Action Plan for Transportation Infrastructure.
• State Awards $132.4 Million of Infrastructure Funding to Santa Barbara Highway 101 Project (Noozhawk). The California Transportation Commission has awarded $132.4 million to the Santa Barbara portion of the massive Highway 101 project. The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments and Caltrans received the funding last week, and it is the “second highest funded project in California to receive competitive Senate Bill 1 program funding,” according to SBCAG. The award comes from the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Senate Bill 1 grant programs, a $2 billion investment by the state.
• $132.4M Awarded to Santa Barbara Hwy 101 Multimodal Corridor Project (Edhat). The California Transportation Commission approved a $132.4 million award for the Santa Barbara U.S. 101 Multimodal Corridor Project on Wednesday in Suisun City, Solano County. The approval came as part of a $2 billion investment announced by the state from the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and competitive Senate Bill 1 (SB1) grant programs. The commission awarded Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) $132.4 million to complete construction of Highway 101 improvements and carpool lanes in Montecito and the City of Santa Barbara to the Hermosillo Road off-ramp, while also providing planned electric buses for Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District, coastal access improvements, zero emission vehicle charging and contactless card readers for the Coastal Express operated by the Ventura County Transportation Commission.
• County, city working on roundabout projects (Tehachapi News). Roundabouts — sometimes called traffic circles — are coming to Tehachapi. At least two projects are in the works — one in the Cummings Valley and the other at the intersection of Tucker and Highline roads in Tehachapi Valley. Jay Schlosser, development services director for the city of Tehachapi, introduced the proposed project at Tucker and Highline — at the southeastern corner of the city — to members of the City Council at a special meeting on June 29. The council, in partnership with Kern County, unanimously approved an application for funding for the project.

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We’ve now crossed into July. Half the calendar year is past. Things are starting to heat up (finally) weather-wise, here in Southern California, after a cool and dreary June. The March/April/May updates to the highway pages are done, and I’ve had a bit of a respite. With the posting of these headlines, work will comments on the next round of updates to the pages, which will probably be posted around Labor Day. Also commencing will be the writing of scripts for California Highways: Route by Route season 2, where we’re going to start going through the highways route by route. Things are just starting a little slow, as I’m recovering from MOHS surgery right under my eye — which makes wearing glasses and working at my computer a pain. Hopefully, I’ll be back up to speed in a week or two.

The last episode of the first season of the podcast was delayed due to vacations (both Tom’s and mine). Tom explored the Grand Canyon and that area of Neveda and Arizona, which is captured over on the Gribblenation blog. I did some more exploration of the California desert and mountains, having fun on Route 62 (including a visit to the World Famous Crochet Museum), Route 74, Route 86, Route 111, Route 243, and Route 371. We’re recording the last episode tonight, and it should be posted July 4th. Season 2 will have 10 episodes on Route 1, and two on Route 2. Hopefully, the sound quality is getting a bit better. I’m learning as I go on, and I think on some I overprocessed and overcompensated for breaths, creaks, and other bumps (uh) in the night. Episode 1.01 is up to 114 listens over on Spotify, and the most recent episode is at 52. Visit our Spotify for Podcast episodes page, our main podcast site, or use your favorite podcasting app to catch up on our back episodes. We have a 6-part series on the history of the state highway system, and a 4-part series on highway numbering.

What else? We’re back to attending theatre regularly, although I haven’t started writing reviews again. Last night was Into the Woods at the Ahmanson Theatre (an excellent production about a road trip). I’m also going to mention an interesting project from a work colleague of mine: Bob Clemons. Bob is doing a bicycle trip he’s calling “Pier to Pier”, where he is riding from the Santa Monica Pier in California to the Steel Pier in New Jersey, mostly along Route 66. He’s been doing a daily photo/commentary log you can find here. I’m finding it fascinating: both for his love of the road, his love of courthouses, and his love of beer flights.

OK. You should be caught up now. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for June:

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor.]

California Highways: Route by Route Podcast

• No episodes posted in June. We’re recording episode 1.12 today, on the organizations of the state highway system, and it should be posted on Tuesday, July 4.

Back episodes are available at the Podcast’s forever home, as well as on its Spotify for Podcasters home. The Spotify (nee Anchor.FM) link also has links to the podcast’s page on most major podcasting services.

Highway Headlines

• Onramp on 57 Freeway in San Dimas causing dangerous rollover crashes; residents call on Caltrans to possibly add guardrails (ABC7 Los Angeles). There’s a dangerous onramp on the 57 Freeway in San Dimas that’s reportedly caused multiple vehicles to roll down into a shopping center parking lot down below. According to business owners, nearly a dozen drivers have slid off the northbound onramp from Bonita Avenue and the Arrow Highway, sending their vehicles tumbling down. Surveillance video shared with Eyewitness News captured an SUV sliding off the onramp and rolling over multiple times. It happened around 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
• Damage to Hwy 178 appears to be getting worse, Caltrans gives no estimate for reopening (KGET Bakersfield). Highway 178 has been closed for five days due to road damage and it appears that road cracks have gotten bigger. A fleet of Caltrans engineers and a geologist from Sacramento are assessing the damage to the road. Their report will determine possible solutions and a timeline for repairs. There are some complications with fixing the road. One is the surging Kern River impeding future repairs but a solution for that is already in the works.
• Placer County commissions plan for North Lake Tahoe highway transit improvements (Sierra Sun). Placer County is continuing efforts to address traffic concerns and enhance transit along state routes 89 and 267 in North Lake Tahoe with short-term and long-term improvements. The Placer County Board of Supervisors last week approved a $511,838 contract with Wood Rodgers Inc. to create a strategic implementation and phasing plan to advance implementation along the two corridors, both of which connect Interstate 80 to North Lake Tahoe. The plan will include collaboration with stakeholder groups such as Caltrans, the Town of Truckee, emergency responders, local businesses and residents in the region. The plan will expand on the transportation recommendations provided in the county’s Resort Triangle Transportation Plan that the board approved in October 2020. The RTTP outlined initiatives to reduce traffic, get people out of their cars, encourage alternative commuting options and address congestion.
• Granite wins $29M Highway 1 project (Construction Dive). Granite Construction will be going to the beach this summer after winning a $29 million contract to widen California’s iconic Highway 1 in Santa Cruz. Work includes the construction of four retaining walls, one soldier pile retaining wall and a 650-foot-long box girder pedestrian bridge over Highway 1 at Chanticleer Avenue, according to a Granite news release. The Watsonville, California-based contractor will widen the freeway in both directions from Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz to 41st Avenue in nearby Capitola, with an additional lane of travel in each direction added to the existing earth median.
• Konocti Corridor Ribbon Cutting Ceremony (Redheaded Blackbelt). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the completion of the $85 million first segment of the Konocti Corridor Project on Wednesday, June 7 in Lake County. This project is a cooperative effort funded by Caltrans, the Lake County Area Planning Council (LAPC), and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Located between the communities of Lower Lake and Kelseyville, the new three-mile segment of State Route 29 was widened to a four-lane expressway to improve safety.
• Big Sur Likely to Be Inaccessible From Highway 1 From the South Through the Summer as Cleanup Work Continues (SFist). The southern route into Big Sur on Highway 1 is going to be closed for the next several months, Caltrans says, in an update on the progress of work to clear debris from a major landslide that occurred this past winter. Big Sur residents and much of Northern California is well aware that whenever we have a rainy winter, it’s likely to mean Big Sur will be cut off from civilization for some period of time. The land above and below Highway 1 in the Big Sur area is pretty dynamic in general, with dirt, sand, and rocks that are slowly trying to make their way to the ocean, and Mother Nature frequently having a laugh at the expense of California’s highway engineers who insist on maintaining a road there. This year’s big slide happened at an area called Paul’s Slide — though this was far from the only debris slide this rainy season. A section of Highway 1 here was partly inundated by dirt and debris as far back as January, as California got pummeled by heavy rains. But then Paul’s Slide did what it has done in the past, sliding in a major way in mid-March and completely burying the roadway.

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We’re up to the second update of 2023. We’ve made it to the other side of the atmospheric river, although we’re still picking up the pieces, cleaning up the mud, and blowing away the snow. We’re getting ready to enter the summer driving season. A few 3-day weekends have afforded me the time to finish off the highway page updates. This update has been mostly the usual changes, although Joel provided some more route adoption maps.  The text below is drawn from the website 2023 Changelog.

This update covers March, April, and May 2023. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. Episodes are regularly posted around the middle of the month. You can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Podcasters, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcaster or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters) . The following episodes have been posted since the last update:

• March | CARxR 1.09: Highway Numbering: Interstate Highways (where we explore all things Interstate: history of the system, chargeable/non-chargeable, numbering, California’s submissions, and more).
• April | CARxR 1.10: Highway Numbering: County Signed Routes (where we complete our exploration of numbering of state highways by turning our attention to the County Signed Route system)
• May | CARxR 1.11: Highway Numbering (where we explore how highways get their names)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers in January and February 2023 (which are posted to the roadgeeking category at the “Observations Along The Road” and to the California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum (Ꜳ). This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research^(ℱ), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or ꜲRoads) from  Lori Aivazian⁽²⁾, Michael Ballard⁽³⁾, bing101⁽⁴⁾, Juan Espinosa⁽⁵⁾, Tom Fearer⁽⁶⁾, Joe Rouse⁽⁷⁾, splashflash⁽⁸⁾, Jim White⁽⁹⁾, and Joel Windmiller⁽¹⁰⁾: Route 1^(ℱ,10),  Route 4⁽¹⁰⁾, Route 3^(ℱ), I-5^(ℱ), Sign Route 6⁽⁶⁾, Sign Route 8⁽⁶⁾, I-10⁽⁶⁾, Route 12^(ℱ), Route 14^(ℱ),  I-15^(ℱ), Route 20⁽¹⁰⁾, Sign Route 26⁽⁶⁾, Route 29^(ℱ), Route 37^(ℱ,7),  I-40^(ℱ), Route 41^(ℱ,6), Route 46^(ℱ), Route 47^(ℱ), Route 49^(ℱ,6), Route 54⁽⁶⁾, Route 55⁽⁶⁾, Route 58^(ℱ), Route 62⁽⁶⁾, Route 67^(ℱ), Route 70⁽⁸⁾, Route 71^(ℱ),  I-80^(ℱ), Route 84⁽⁶⁾, Route 87⁽¹⁰⁾, Sign Route 88⁽⁶⁾, Route 91^(ℱ,5), US 95⁽⁶⁾, Route 99^(ℱ), US 101^(ℱ,6), Route 107⁽⁹⁾, Route 108⁽⁶⁾, Route 118^(ℱ,2), Route 123^(ℱ), Route 134⁽³⁾, Route 141⁽⁶⁾, Route 148⁽⁴⁾, Route 154^(ℱ), Route 160⁽¹⁰⁾, Route 197^(ℱ), US 199^(ℱ), Route 222^(ℱ), Route 230⁽¹⁰⁾, Route 240⁽⁶⁾, Route 243⁽⁶⁾, Route 247^(ℱ), Route 273^(ℱ), I-380^(ℱ), US 395^(ℱ), I-580^(ℱ), I-605⁽⁶⁾, I-680⁽⁶⁾, I-780⁽⁶⁾, Route 905^(ℱ), I-980^(ℱ), County Sign Route R2^(ℱ).
(Source: private email through 5/31/2023, Highway headline posts through the Mary Headline post, AARoads through 5/27/2023

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2023-05-28. As usual, I recommend to every Californian that they visit the legislative website regularly and see what their legis-critters are doing. As many people are unfamiliar with how the legislature operates (and why there are so many “non-substantive changes” and “gut and amend” bills), I’ve added the legislative calendar to the end of the Pending Legislation page. We are still in the early days of a new legislative session, so at this point bills mostly are in committee. Welcome to the 2023-2024 session, folks.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission. This covered the March, April, and May meetings:

• (April) April 2023 Application No. 4-22-0459 (Caltrans). Application of Caltrans to replace the Northbound and Southbound US 101 bridges at Refugio Creek with new clear span bridges with five traffic lanes, standard bridge railings and shoulders, fish passage improvements, pedestrian path upgrades, and restoration of public parking on Refugio Rd., near Refugio State Beach in unincorporated Santa Barbara County. (Note: The Commission’s enforcement division has opened an investigation into potential Coastal Act violations associated with this item and site, as explained further in the staff report.) (JS-V)
• (May) May 2023 Informational Update on Caltrans Highway 101 Last Chance Grade Permanent Restoration Project. Informational update by Caltrans on the status of the upcoming Last Chance Grade Permanent Restoration Project involving alternatives that include, but are not limited to, reengineering the existing roadway, constructing a series of retaining walls, and/or constructing a 10,000-ft.-long tunnel along a 3.5-mile-long section of US 101 in Del Norte County (post mile 12.0 to 15.5) within Redwood National and State Parks from about 9 miles south of Crescent City to Wilson Creek.

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the results of the March and May 2023 meetings of the California Transportation Commission. As always, note that I tend not to track items that do not impact these pages — i.e., pavement rehabilitation or replacement, landscaping, drainage, culverts, roadside facilities, charging stations, or other things that do not impact the routing or history, unless they are really significant. As such, the following items were of interest:

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As we pass from May into June, I’d welcome you to the June Gloom, but it came early. As I write this, I’ve been busily working to get the March and April (and now May) updates to the Highway Pages done. They are closer — I just finished going through the March and May CTC minutes. This weekend I’ll process these headlines, and the updates should be good to go

The first season of the podcast is winding down. We have one episode left to record, and then I’ll take a couple of months off to start writing Season 2, when we will actually start going route by route through the state highways. Season 2 will have 10 episodes on Route 1, and two on Route 2. Hopefully, the sound quality is getting a bit better. I’m learning as I go on, and I think on some I overprocessed and overcompensated for breaths, creaks, and other bumps (uh) in the night. Our sample episode has crossed 105 listens, but many are still falling short. Visit our Spotify for Podcast episodes page, our main podcast site, or use your favorite podcasting app to catch up on our back episodes. We have a 6-part series on the history of the state highway system, and a 4-part series on highway numbering.

What else? We’re back to attending theatre regularly, although I haven’t started writing reviews again. Although we’re not going to be able to make it this year, if you’re near Hollywood in June, I encourage you to go down to old US 66 and attend the Hollywood Fringe Festival. There should be at least one show of interest out of the hundreds of shows being presented.

OK. You should be caught up now. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for May:

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor.]

California Highways: Route by Route Podcast

• CARxR 1.11: Highway Naming. In our penultimate episode of the season, we explore highways and their names. Tom and Daniel discuss how highways got their names in the past, as well as how highways are named today through the legislature. You’ll see a discussion of historical names, destination-based names, and memorial names. We’ll also explore auto trail names, as well as some of the more notorious names that highways have been given. Lastly, listen until after the end credits for a discussion about an aspect of naming that people often forget. (38:01)

Back episodes are available at the Podcast’s forever home, as well as on its Spotify for Podcasters home. The Spotify (nee Anchor.FM) link also has links to the podcast’s page on most major podcasting services.

Highway Headlines

• City meeting with Caltrans director inspired optimism about truck climbing lanes project (Tehachapi News). The most optimistic news reported at Monday night’s City Council meeting came from Councilman Phil Smith. During the council comments portion at the end of the meeting, Smith shared news of a recent meeting he and city staff had with the new director of Caltrans about the proposed truck climbing lane for Highway 58. Caltrans recently released environmental reports related to the project, and another Highway 58 project west of Tehachapi — the Keene Pavement Project — is even further along in the planning process. But funding the projects once the planning and design are complete remains an obstacle.
• ＄Last piece of remade Bay Bridge expands access to Yerba Buena, Treasure Island (Napa Valley Register). The last piece of the massive Bay Bridge reconstruction will open Sunday, almost 10 years after the main span bearing Interstate 80 began carrying traffic. The new eastbound off-ramp to Yerba Buena Island will increase access to Treasure Island, where San Francisco officials hope to develop thousands of new homes, retail and commercial space, and hotel rooms. City plans have touted Treasure Island as San Francisco’s newest emerging neighborhood. “It’s a much better connection to the island,” said Bart Ney, a spokesman for Caltrans. “There’s all kinds of development.”
• ＄American Canyon says annexation might ease Highway 29 traffic (Napa Valley Register). American Canyon officials want to annex 83 acres and develop a portion with industry and businesses and — if all goes as described — a road extension that takes some traffic off busy Highway 29. The city is working on an environmental impact report for its proposed Paoli/Watson Lane annexation. This land is east of Highway 29 near Paoli Loop Road. What might seem to be an American Canyon-centric issue could have ramifications for anyone driving in the south county. The proposed annexation would allow a Newell Drive extension to connect with the highway. “The city intends to extend Newell Drive as a parallel roadway to (Highway) 29 to relieve traffic congestion,” the draft environmental impact report said. How much relief is unclear, though an extended Newell Drive would handle more than existing traffic in this fast-growing area. Nearby Watson Ranch is planned to someday host more than 1,000 homes.
• ＄Caltrans work will partially or fully close Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro (Daily News). Most, if not all, of the Vincent Thomas Bridge could close for one to two years beginning around 2025 so the nearly 60-year-old San Pedro span can get a new roadbed for the first time since it was built. Details on the California Department of Transportation project, estimated to cost $628.5 million, are just now rolling out — with the news coming as a surprise to many of those who will be heavily impacted. Caltrans will host a virtual meeting, as part of an extensive state and federal scoping process for the project, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 4. Work is anticipated to take place from 2025 to 2027. Replacing the roadway, Caltrans officials say, is necessary to maintain the bridge, which turns 60 in November, into the future. The road in both directions has been damaged over time by saltwater, moisture and heavy use.
• Plan to add toll to Highway 37 for safety funding faces opposition (CBS San Francisco). Between flooding during King Tides and everyday commute congestion, Highway 37 in the North Bay has long been a major concern of the State. Transportation officials have come up with a plan to fix the vital connecting road, but the method to pay for it is drawing criticism – and raising concerns about how future projects may be funded. The roadway sits only a few feet above the water and has already experienced shutdowns due to flooding. So, the State’s long-term plan is to turn the road into a four-lane “causeway,” essentially, a low-level bridge that will span most of the 21 miles from Vallejo to Novato. It would include a bike and pedestrian lane and a rail line for the SMART commuter train. That will take billions of dollars and more than 20 years to complete. But there is also a short-term plan involving one section of the highway.
• State to consider Highway 37 toll (Marin I-J). Highway 37, the major North Bay commuter route linking Marin and Vallejo, could become a toll road for the second time since it was built nearly a century ago under a proposal before the state this month. The California Transportation Commission is set to decide whether to approve the toll at its May 17-18 meeting in San Francisco. The toll would take effect in 2027 and be similar to tolls on state-owned bridges in the area, which would be at least $8 in 2027. Bay Area transportation agencies and Caltrans are seeking to add the toll to the 12-mile corridor to pay for significant changes to the highway in response to grueling traffic conditions and sea-level rise projections. The near-term project plans to widen a 10-mile, traffic-prone section of road between Sears Point and Mare Island, where the highway bottlenecks to one lane in each direction. The estimated $430 million widening project, planned for completion in 2027, would add a carpool lane in each direction for vehicles with at least two occupants. The carpool lane would not be tolled.

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