Category: roadgeeking

And with that quarter I just dropped in the slot machine of life at the Tropicana (soon to be ז״ל‎, which is sad news for us Vegas historians), 2024 is down its first quarter. It’s been eventful, hasn’t it (and I’m not even talking politics, which its own form of crash and burn). But the first quarter of 2024 is now water under the bridge, so to speak. Well, something’s under the bridge.

Too soon?

In any case, it is the last day of March. I understand there are some holidays today, but for me, it is a perfect day for a headline post. For those unfamiliar, this post generally contains headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. It also serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

So what has happened in March with me? There was lots of theatre: One of the Good Ones at the Pasadena Playhouse; Million Dollar Quartet at 5-Star Theatricals; Chicago at Broadway in Hollywood; the Go Jazz Big Band at The Main in Santa Clarita; and Fat Ham at the Geffen. We also got a new 2024 Subaru Forester: my daughter’s 2012 Chevy Sonic with over 100K miles on it is on its deathbed, and she’s getting our 2016 Subaru Impreza (with 43K miles on it). Good timing, as work has caught the “back to the office” bug, meaning I’ll be on the 405 more. Is that friction I’m feeling? Could the relief be retirement? We’ll see, but not for at least a year.

The podcast continues apace. One more episode dropped in March, and we’re hopefully recording more this week. I’ve started writing Season 3, but it is going close. Route 3 is done, and I’m working on Route 4. Episode 2.07 prompted a friend at Caltrans to offer to do an interview to talk about Fastrak and tolling in California; we’ll coordinate that as a bonus episode during the Season 2/3 break. I’m hoping to talk not just about Fastrak and tolling, but all those fake license plates going around, and placement of the transponder (article in the headlines). Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Yes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. As always, 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 podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

• CA RxR 2.10: Route 1: The Lost Coast (incl. Route 208 and Route 211).  Episode 2.10 of California Highways: Route by Route completes our exploration of Route 1, as we discuss the “Lost Coast”. This area was originally part of the last segment of LRN 56, and was to be Route 1, but some reworking of the state system made the former lateral between Usal Road and US 101 (which in 1964 became Route 208) officially Route 1, and made the “Lost Coast” portion of the route Route 211. This episode explores the Lost Coast, including the history of Route 208 and Route 211.  (Spotify for Podcasters)

The season will conclude with two episodes on Route 2: One on the flatlands from Santa Monica to Glendale; and one on the mountain segments along the Angeles Crest Highway.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for March.

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. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. 🎧 indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

• Most Calif. DOT under-freeway spaces failed fire inspections (Gov1). An alarming number of storage sites under Bay Area freeway underpasses failed state fire marshal inspections spurred by last year’s devastating blaze that shut down Interstate 10 in Los Angeles, according to new Caltrans reports that raise questions about the risks of leasing space under California’s highways. Inspectors found combustible trash, vegetation, tires and debris, stacks of wooden pallets and lumber, unsecured compressed gas cylinders, unsafe wiring, motor oil and obstructed fire safety access.  “Inspections of these sites revealed several issues presenting fire or safety risks, as well as other issues and lease violations,” Caltrans Director Tony Tavares wrote in a Feb. 6 report to Gov. Gavin Newsom on the safety of Caltrans’ program to lease out space under freeways.
• Massive Ventura County landslide shuts down portion of CA-150 (AOL). Recent rainstorms in Ventura County have caused a massive mudslide that’s blocked off a stretch of State Route 150 north of Santa Paula, closing the road. Crews don’t anticipate the stretch to reopen for several months. According to Caltrans, the hillside along State Route 150, also known as Ojai Road, began to slide in early Febrary, as massive storms rolled through the area. Now, more than 150 feet of the road is completely covered by mud and debris. Caltrans estimates that 3,200 vehicles use that stretch of road daily. Through traffic is blocked between Stonegate Road in Santa Paula, south of the slide, and Mupu Road at Steckel Park, north of the slide.
• What’s in our draft Long Beach – East Los Angeles Corridor Mobility Investment Plan (and how you can weigh in) (The Source). Last month, we released the draft Long Beach – East Los Angeles Corridor Mobility Investment Plan (for short, the CMIP), an comprehensive 255-page document that describes the ambitious community efforts to re-envision mobility within this 18-miles-long and 5 miles-wide area linked together by the 710 Freeway. Bounded by Long Beach and East Los Angeles, this project area includes 18 cities and 3 unincorporated communities. Twelve percent of LA County’s population (1.2 million) live here. It’s home to eleven percent of LA County’s jobs (one half million). The corridor also links the manufacturing district in southeast LA to the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB), two of the busiest ports in the world. In other words, moving supplies up and down this corridor is essential to keeping our pantries full, our businesses open, and our hospitals stocked with supplies. It’s an economic lifeline.
• Centennial Corridor flyover to open March 5, marking completion of $600 million project (Bakersfield Now). Centennial Corridor flyover, the ramp from northbound Highway 99 to westbound Highway 58, is expected to open to traffic at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5, with weather permitting or as late as Wednesday, March 6, completing the more than $600 million project. The flyover connector ramp was the only outstanding portion of the project left to open. Other portions of the project opened to traffic on Feb. 17 following a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the engineering work and the impact of the about 1.5 miles of new roadway connecting Highway 58 and Highway 99.
• Caltrans And Angels Camp Host Public Meeting On Mobility Project (myMotherLode). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the city of Angels Camp have announced a public meeting to discuss the Mobility Project, an initiative aimed at tackling traffic and safety concerns in the region. The event is open to all community members, local businesses, and media outlets and will take place on March 7 from 4 pm to 8 pm at the Bret Harte Multi-purpose room. The Mobility Project addresses traffic and safety issues along the Highway 4 and 49 corridor, a route heavily impacted by the annual influx of visitors. The project aims to create safer and less congested streets, not only for current residents but also for future generations. According to a statement from Caltrans, the project’s scope extends beyond Angels Camp, impacting multiple economies and communities along these vital state routes.
• Plan to improve traffic flow on Interstate 15 in Riverside County hinges on ‘smart freeway’ high-tech solutions (ABC7 Los Angeles). Riverside County transportation officials are hoping an upcoming project will improve a stretch of Interstate 15 through Temecula that seems perpetually snarled by traffic. “It gets gridlocked almost any time of day,” said Aaron Hake, deputy executive director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission. “Not only do you have the commute coming back from San Diego, but you also have a lot of local residents here just trying to get around the Temecula – Murrieta area. “They’re merging, they’re weaving, and just trying to get on the 215. And all of those actions have the effect of slowing traffic down and producing the opportunity for collisions.”
• Golden Gate Bridge receives $400 million from Biden bill (SF Examiner). U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined Mayor London Breed, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi and White House infrastructure coordinator Mitch Landrieu at the Roundhouse Cafe at the Golden Gate Bridge Toll Plaza Monday to celebrate a $400 million grant to complete the final phase of a much–needed seismic retrofit to one of nation’s most iconic spans. The bridge’s retrofit funds come from the Biden administration’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan. The first three phases of the retrofit were completed between 2002 and 2014, according to the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District.
• Skyline Boulevard: A long and winding road through scenic redwoods (Local News Matters). A drive along State Route 35, aka Skyline Boulevard, is a reminder of all the wilderness that the Santa Cruz Mountains and Bay Area have to offer. This is where the redwoods meet the road, where the mountains soar high and open space abounds. It’s a winding road, all 45 miles of it between Highway 92 and Highway 17 at the Santa Cruz County line. So which part should you see before carsickness takes over? (State Route 35 also continues north to Daly City, but for a six-mile stretch it disappears and joins Interstate 280 between San Mateo and San Bruno.)

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It’s time for the first highway page update for 2024. This has been a relatively quiet period (as the last headline post demonstrated). But still, there’s a bunch of interesting stuff here. So, as always, “ready, set, discuss”. Next up: Starting to write Season 3 of the podcast.

This update covers January and February 2024, and perhaps some of March 2024, depending on how long it takes me to finish the last little bits. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, 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:

• January | CA RxR 2.06: Route 1: Pacifica and San Francisco. Episode 2.06 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1 by exploring everything about Route 1 from Pacifica, just N of the Tom Lantos Tunnels near Montara (in San Mateo Couny) to and through San Francisco up to the Golden Gate Bridge. This includes communities such as Pacifica, Daly City, and of course, San Francisco. As always, we go over the history of this segment of the route, the history of the route through various communities , the freeway plans, discuss relinquishments, names, and some current plans (although there’s not much in the relinquishment or plans area). As part of the freeway plans in the area, we include a discussion of the freeway revolt and some broader plans for San Francisco. (Spotify for Podcasters)
• January | CA RxR 2.07: Route 1ish: Golden Gate Bridge. Episode 2.07 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1 by exploring an interesting gap in the route: The Golden Gate Bridge (GGB). The GGB is not part of the state highway system, and thus (from the point of view of the state) not part of either Route 1 or US 101. It is part of US 101 per AASHTO, and is run by its own district. We’ll cover what was there before the bridge, the construction of the bridge, and current projects along the bridge (such as the singing bridge retrofit, the suicide barrier, and the earthquake retrofit. We’ll also discuss how one pays tolls on the bridge. (Spotify for Podcasters)
• February | CA RxR 2.08: Route 1: Marin and …. Episode 2.08 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1. We’ve now crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, and are continuing north from the Marin Headlands, up along the coast through Sausalito and Marin, Muir Beach and Stinson Beach, Point Reyes, Bodega Bay, Jenner and Fort Ross until we reach the Marin Headlands. As always, we’ll cover the history of the route, and some current projects along the route (Spotify for Podcasters).
• February | CA RxR 2.09: Route 1: The Redwood Forest. Episode 2.09 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1, as we complete discussing present-day Route 1 in Medocino County from Gualala to Leggett and current Route 1’s end at US 101. Along the way, we’ll discuss the communities of Gualala, Point Arena, Albion, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Westport and Rockport, and Leggett. As always, we’ll cover the history of the route, and some current projects along the route. (Spotify for Podcasters)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the podcast in January and February 2024 (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 bing101⁽²⁾, Tom Fearer⁽³⁾, Will Poundstone⁽⁴⁾: Route 1^(ℱ,4), I-5⁽³⁾, US 6⁽³⁾, I-8^(ℱ,3), I-10^(ℱ), I-15^(ℱ), Route 14⁽⁴⁾, Route 17^(ℱ), Route 23^(ℱ), Route 25^(ℱ), Route 33⁽⁴⁾, Route 37^(ℱ), Route 40 [S Postmiles] ⁽³⁾, Route 41^(ℱ), Route 46^(ℱ), Route 58^(ℱ,3), US 66⁽³⁾, US 80⁽³⁾, Route 92⁽⁴⁾, Route 99^(ℱ,3), Route 101^(ℱ,2), Route 110^(ℱ), Route 126^(ℱ), Route 128⁽³⁾, Route 134⁽³⁾, Route 152^(ℱ), Route 156^(ℱ), Route 163⁽³⁾, Route 166^(ℱ), Route 170⁽⁴⁾, I-580^(ℱ,2), I-710^(ℱ).
(Source: private email through 3/3/2024, Highway headline posts through the February 2024 Headline post, AARoads through 3/3/2024)

Updated the Links pages to reflect the return of ORoads: The Roads of Oregon, and its companion sites the Beaver State Blog and the Beaver State Wiki. Additionally, capture the movement of All Things NC to Gribblenation, and the NCRoads Annex at VA Highways. Added a link to the CSUN Maps library to the Maps page. Added a section to the Maps page about other research tools. Yeah, it doesn’t fit with maps, but it doesn’t really fit anywhere else either, and the maps are also used for research. Added links to the Caltrans Library Digital Collection, the California Digital Newspaper Collection, and the San Jose Public Library: CA Dept. of Highways (CALTRANS) Right of Way Assessment (h/t kurumi) to the Useful Research Tools page.

Reviewed the Draft 2024 SHOPP, The goal was to identify new projects that would be of interest to the highway pages. Continuing projects should already be in the pages if they are of interest. Note that Caltrans now has a wonderful interactive project page making it easy to find a project. Hmmm, I should probably add that to the front page of the site. * rummages around *. Oh, it’s already in the FAQ! Caltrans also has an interactive SHOPP dashboard. I added that to the FAQ, under how Caltrans spends its money. Per the 2024 Draft SHOPP: “The 2024 SHOPP is comprised of a portfolio of 617 projects (197 new and 420 “carryover” projects from the 2022 SHOPP), spanning the four fiscal years 2024-25 through 2027-28. More than half of these projects focus on condition improvements across four primary asset classes (i.e., pavement, bridge, drainage, and Transportation Management Systems) (TMS), supporting Caltrans’s progress in meeting the required 2027 performance targets set forth by the Commission and outlined in SB 1.” This review resulted in updates to the following routes: Route 1, Route 13, Route 14, Route 49, Route 72, Route 84, US 101, Route 113, Route 120, Route 126, Route 299, US 395.

Added some links for the National Pony Express Trail. This impacted the following routes: Route 24, US 50, I-80, Route 88, Route 89, I-680, I-780.

Made more updates to pages based on podcast research: Route 2, Route 99, Route 138, LRN 59.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2023-12-25. 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 (updated for 2024) to the end of the Pending Legislation page. Mostly, this was new bills being introduced; however, two naming resolutions passed in January:

• SCR 59 (Ochoa Bogh) Senator Bob Dutton Memorial Overcrossing.Designates the overcrossing on State Route 210 at Archibald Avenue (~ SBD 5.889) in the City of Rancho Cucamonga as the “Senator Bob Dutton Memorial Overcrossing”.

  01/18/24    Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 1, Statutes of 2024.

• SCR 74 (Nguyen) Officer Jon Coutchie Memorial Bridge.Designates the Aliso Creek Bridge, Bridge № 55-0003, on Route 1, in the County of Orange, at post mile 6.49, as the “Officer Jon Coutchie Memorial Bridge”.

  01/18/24    Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 2, Statutes of 2024.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission. There was no meeting in January; in February, there were no items of interest for the highway pages.

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the results of the December 2023 meeting 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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Did you leap today? It is, after all, a leap year and today’s the leap day. A perfect day for a headline post. For those unfamiliar, this post generally contains headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. It also serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers. Speaking of the California Highways site: I’ve been busy working on updates, and all I have left is incorporation of this headline posts and checking the AARoads Pacific Southwest Forum.

So what has happened in February with me? Well, I received my sample ballot, which means I did my five-part deep dive analysis: I—State and National Offices (excluding judges); II—County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges); III—Local and State Measures (nee Propositions); IV—Judicial Offices (County and State); and V—Summary. We also saw a few shows: The Wiz at the Pantages; The Marvelous Wonderettes: Dream On at Canyon Theatre Guild; and Matthew Bournes’ Romeo + Juliet at the Ahmanson Theatre.

The podcast continues apace. Two more episodes dropped in February, and I’ve got more recording to schedule with Tom. Season 2 scripts are done; I’ll start writing Season 3, covering Routes 3 through 7, once I’m past the highway page updates. Episode 2.07 prompted a friend at Caltrans to offer to do an interview to talk about Fastrak and tolling in California; we’ll coordinate that as a bonus episode. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Yes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. As always, 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 podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

• CA RxR 2.08: Route 1: Marin and …. Episode 2.08 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1. We’ve now crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, and are continuing north from the Marin Headlands, up along the coast through Sausalito and Marin, Muir Beach and Stinson Beach, Point Reyes, Bodega Bay, Jenner and Fort Ross until we reach the Marin Headlands. As always, we’ll cover the history of the route, and some current projects along the route.  (Spotify for Podcasters)
• CA RxR 2.09: Route 1: The Redwood Forest. Episode 2.09 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1, as we complete discussing present-day Route 1 in Mendocino County from Gualala to Leggett and current Route 1’s end at US 101. Along the way, we’ll discuss the communities of Gualala, Point Arena, Albion, Mendocino, Fort Bragg, Westport and Rockport, and Leggett. As always, we’ll cover the history of the route, and some current projects along the route. (Spotify for Podcasters)

Looking forward, episode 2.10 will conclude the exploration of Route 1 by exploring a former portion of Sign Route 1: The Lost Coast. This will focus on what is now Route 208 and Route 211. The season will conclude with two episodes on Route 2: One on the flatlands from Santa Monica to Glendale; and one on the mountain segments along the Angeles Crest Highway.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for February. Note that there aren’t as many this month: There are fewer major projects of interest, as I tend not to note resurfacings or most storm repairs that are fixed by the time I do the end of the month post.

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. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. 🎧 indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

• News Flash • Funding Approved for Highway 49 Evacuation Rout. (Nevada County) The California Transportation Commission (CTC) has approved a project to widen Highway 49 between Ponderosa Pines Way just north of Alta Sierra to Wolf Road in Grass Valley. The $101.5 million project includes the addition of shoulders and a center two-way left turn, which will allow safer operations for vehicles entering and exiting the highway. The improvements will also reduce wildfire evacuation times if the need arises. The commission approved the project at its December meeting; no timeline has been set yet as to when construction will begin Supervisor Ed Scofield serves as chairman of the Nevada County Transportation Commission, who submitted the project for funding in coordination with Caltrans District 3.
• ＄Fight over I-15 express lanes exposes rift between freeway widening and California climate, pollution goals. (Los Angeles Times) Express lanes on eight miles of the truck-choked Interstate 15 will break ground this year and, officials promise, speed up commuters’ slog through the Inland Empire’s ever-growing sprawl of warehouses, subdivisions and polluted air. But its contentious approval by the California Transportation Commission last month exposed a deepening rift in the state between its climate goals and the list of freeway widening projects that some say are gliding through without scrutiny and threatening the health of the people who live near them. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now looking into allegations that the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority and the California Department of Transportation may have misled it about the potential environmental harm the project could cause communities that breathe in some of the nation’s worst air. Both say the project was vetted thoroughly and is sound.
• Metro Releases New Lower 710 Freeway Proposal; Agency Still Plans to Widen 710, Doesn’t Rule Out Residential Demolitions. (Streetsblog Los Angeles) Remember when community pressure killed Metro and Caltrans’ planned $6+ billion widening of the lower 710 Freeway? That was less than two years ago. Metro and Caltrans canceled their plans to demolish hundreds of homes, apartment buildings, and businesses in Black and Latino neighborhoods. At the time, Metro proclaimed it had turned over a new leaf, and was now centering equity and supporting multimodal transportation, and that Metro home demolitions for freeway expansion were a thing of the past. This week, Metro is back with a new proposal to widen the lower 710 Freeway. But wait, there’s some lipstick on this pig! In truth, it’s not as bad as the mega-widening that Metro was hell-bent on a couple years ago, but there’s still harmful freeway widening.
• Caltrans announces completion of environmental documents for Highway 37 work. (The Bay Link Blog) Caltrans announced on Friday the completion of environmental documents needed to begin design work on the SR-37 Flood Reduction Project in Marin County. The Fairfield Daily Republic reported on the Highway 37 issue in its Friday edition(link is external). Caltrans also announced that several new agencies are joining the short- and long-term efforts to improve the 21-mile corridor that runs between Vallejo and Novato. The Resilient SR-37 Partnership agencies include Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Transportation Authority of Marin, Napa Valley Transportation Authority, Solano Transportation Authority, Sonoma County Transportation Authority and Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART).
• Richmond-San Rafael Bridge managers reexamine westbound lane options. (Marin Independent Journal) Bay Area transportation planners are taking another look at what it would take to open the westbound shoulder of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge for commuter traffic. The emergency and maintenance lane on the bridge’s upper deck was converted into a bicycle and pedestrian path that is protected by a moveable barrier in 2019 for a four-year trial period. The controversial path remains open pending a final report that could determine the fate of the test project. Critics, mostly commuters and their employers, say traffic is worse than ever, while supporters maintain the path is a successful multimodal connection between the North Bay and the East Bay.
• Slide on Highway 1 in Big Sur moves closure north of Paul’s Slide. (KSBW) A new slide along Highway 1 in Big Sur has moved the highway closure further north of Paul’s Slide. According to Caltrans, the slide happened near Big Creek Bridge, located 45 miles south of Carmel-by-the-Sea. The highway was already closed at Paul’s Slide, where damage from the 2023 storms forced Caltrans to reroute Highway 1 away from the cliff. There is no estimated time for reopening this new slide on Highway 1.

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Welcome to 2024, and your first headline post of the year. For those unfamiliar, this post generally contains headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. It also serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

The end of 2023 saw the posting of the next batch of website updates.  This meant that, on the update front, things have been quiet as they are normally built starting with the headline post. With this posting, I’ll start work on the next round of updates. The end of 2023 also saw my posting of my plan for theatre reviews/writeups going forward; indeed, we’ve already seen three shows in January (Kate, POTUS, and Sukkot) and shows continue every weekend until late February, when there is a little break. Of course, that may change if something interesting comes across the transom.

Also on the horizon, posting-wise, will be my analysis of the Spring 2024 Sample Ballot. Having read through the Senate candidate statements, all I can say is that “Hoo-boy, this is going to be a doozy”. As a preview, the Voter Information Guide included a statement (and a disclaimer from the state) from an clear and unabashed racist. Welcome to California Primary season, where the kooks and nuts are on the ballot, in addition to being on the roads. But I will get to do my exploration of the Schiff vs Porter vs Lee. Given the offices I’ve already started to get advertising for, I expect this to be a multi-part post, although there is only one state proposition.

The podcast continues apace. We’ve recorded and released a few episodes, and will be recording another one next Monday. The scripts for the last two episodes in Season 2 are done (they are on Route 2). A short break, and then I’ll start researching and writing Season 3, covering Route 3 through Route 7. The most recent episode also prompted a friend at Caltrans to offer to do an interview to talk about Fastrak and tolling in California. We’ll likely do that as a bonus episode. As I write this, the most recent episode (according to Spotify, which doesn’t count direct downloads from cahighways/caroutebyroute) had 36 listens; the most popular season 2 episode (2.02, Route 1 in LA County) had 77 downloads, and the most popular episode overall ((1.01, the start of the chronology) had 154. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Yes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. As always, 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 podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

• CA RxR 2.05: Route 1: Monterey, Santa Cruz, and the Santa Cruz Coastline. Episode 2.05 of California Highways: Route by Route, continues our exploration of Route 1 by exploring everything about the segment of Route 1 from Carmel in Monterey County to just N of the Tom Lantos Tunnels near Montara (in San Mateo Couny). This includes communities such as Carmel, Monterey, Seaside, Watsonville, Castroville, Aptos, Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Coastline, Half Moon Bay, and Montara. As always, we go over the history of this segment of the route, the history of the route through various communities , the freeway plans, discuss relinquishments, names, and some current plans. We also talk in detail about the Devil’s Slide and the Tom Lantos Tunnels, as well as projects in Santa Cruz.  (Spotify Link)
• CA RxR 2.06: Route 1: Pacifica and San Francisco. Episode 2.06 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1 by exploring everything about Route 1 from Pacifica, just N of the Tom Lantos Tunnels near Montara (in San Mateo Couny) to and through San Francisco up to the Golden Gate Bridge. This includes communities such as Pacifica, Daly City, and of course, San Francisco. As always, we go over the history of this segment of the route, the history of the route through various communities , the freeway plans, discuss relinquishments, names, and some current plans (although there’s not much in the relinquishment or plans area). As part of the freeway plans in the area, we include a discussion of the freeway revolt and some broader plans for San Francisco.  (Spotify Link)
• CA RxR 2.07: Route 1ish: Golden Gate Bridge. Episode 2.07 of California Highways: Route by Route continues our exploration of Route 1 by exploring an interesting gap in the route: The Golden Gate Bridge (GGB). The GGB is not part of the state highway system, and thus (from the point of view of the state) not part of either Route 1 or US 101. It is part of US 101 per AASHTO, and is run by its own district. We’ll cover what was there before the bridge, the construction of the bridge, and current projects along the bridge (such as the singing bridge retrofit, the suicide barrier, and the earthquake retrofit. We’ll also discuss how one pays tolls on the bridge. (Spotify Link)

Looking forward, episode 2.08 will continue our exploration of Route 1 moving northward from the Marin Headlands to the Redwoods.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for January:

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. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. 🎧 indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

• Upcoming Roadwork on Area Highways (Redheaded Blackbelt). The following scheduled roadwork [in Caltrans District 1] has been verified at the time of release. Please keep in mind work is weather permitting and subject to change.
• Highway 1 Closure: How Long Can Big Sur Businesses Endure? (SF Standard). About 100 miles south of San Francisco lies one of the most beautiful places in a beautiful state. Of all of California’s scenic highways—State Route 120 through Yosemite National Park, U.S. 395 behind the spine of the High Sierra, the 405 through Sepulveda Pass with nobody else on it—perhaps nothing compares to the stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway from Carmel-by-the-Sea south to Santa Barbara. And the most beautiful section of this is Big Sur, which has been cut off from the south for the past 11 months. On Jan. 8, during a period of atmospheric rivers, an enormous movement of earth at a spot called Paul’s Slide near the town of Lucia buried a two-mile segment of the coast highway. The landslide some 40 miles south of Big Sur’s lodges and redwoods forced not only the highway’s closure but, eventually, also required workers to terrace the slope and move the roadway itself.
• ＄ A new wildlife bridge is in the works across Interstate 8 for Peninsular bighorn sheep (San Diego Union-Tribune). Over the past decade, more than two dozen Peninsular bighorn sheep have been struck and killed while trying to cross I-8 in the rocky, mountainous region where San Diego and Imperial counties meet, though for various reasons that number is likely an under count of the actual death toll. In recent years, state wildlife officials identified that 13-mile stretch of freeway where the eastbound and westbound lanes split through a steep grade as one of the state’s most problematic barriers to wildlife movement. An effort is now underway, with a key first step completed earlier this year, to build one of the state’s first wildlife bridges along that stretch of I-8. The envisioned overpass, now in the planning stages after securing grant funding, would facilitate the natural movements of the estimated 790 or so members of the federally protected Peninsular bighorn species, which live between the U.S.-Mexico border and Palm Springs in the California desert.
• ＄ ‘Turbo roundabout’ south of San Jose is second of its kind in US (Mercury News). In the coming months, drivers in San Benito County will face a traffic pattern unlike anything else in the state: a three-lane rotary shaped like a stunted ninja star. This is only the second time the new design, called a turbo roundabout, is being implemented in the U.S. But if it meets its goal of reducing accidents at a crossroads with a history of harmful crashes, drivers across the country could be seeing more of them. The intersection of highways 25 and 156 near Hollister has been notoriously dangerous — the site of more than twice as many accidents as similar intersections in the state, resulting in multiple injuries. In particular, there have been an unusual number of rear-impact and T-bone collisions there. Caltrans had previously attempted several small fixes, such as changing the timing on the traffic signals and adding rumble strips going up to the signal. But after these failed to resolve the problems, the agency opted to create a special roundabout.
• A love letter to US Route 50, America’s loneliest highway (SF Gate). The essence of lonely is embodied after peeling off Highway 50 into a dusty parking lot at Middlegate Station, a pit stop in the Nevada desert about an hour from any cities in both directions. There’s a small wooden building that appears to have been standing for at least 100 years and near the front door a wooden plaque announces the official population — 17. (Although it’s clear that the number 18 has been scratched out.) I have a feeling the bar and restaurant may be keeping an accurate tally. Stepping inside, I simultaneously step back in time and saddle up to the bar for a drink and a burger. It could be some time before I see another opportunity to stop on the lonesome highway
• California debuts ‘turbo roundabout’ to fix troubled intersection near Bay Area (SF Gate). A troubled California intersection is now the site of a new, spiral-shaped road feature called a “turbo roundabout” — the first of its kind in the state, and only the second in the country. The new turbo roundabout appeared near the city of Gilroy at the intersection of highways 25 and 156, two roadways frequented by interregional commuters, travelers and agricultural workers. Caltrans told SFGATE that the intersection has an unusually high occurrence of collisions, even when compared with similar intersections across the state. Installing a roundabout was a natural solution, Caltrans spokesperson Jim Shivers said. “Wherever we have installed a roundabout, the number of collisions drastically decreases,” he said. “And this is pretty much true for roundabouts around the country.”
• Did You Know: Navigate Your Way to CSUN’s Massive Map Collection (CSUN Today). Did you know that in addition to more than 1.5 million books, 250,000 periodicals and 60,000 photos, CSUN’s University Library also boasts a Map Collection with more than 400,000 maps? They include geologic maps, traffic maps, tourist maps, zoning maps, topographic maps and planning maps of California, Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. There are even maps of areas and territories that no longer exist. Emilie Ducourneau is the curator of the collection that includes maps dating back to the 1700s. She notes that these documents serve as a snapshot in time — showing what was happening in a particular area at the time the map was drawn. [✒ Given that CSUN is about a mile from my house, and my wife is a CSUN Alum, I really need to make an appointment and go see this collection]

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It’s time for the last highway page update for 2023. A number of changes here were driven by research for the last two episodes of season 2 of the podcast (which I’m writing right now), as well as from headlines. So, as always, “ready, set, discuss”. I’ll probably start on the next round of updates come Presidents Day in February.

This update covers November and December 2023, and perhaps some of January 2024, depending on how long it takes me to finish the last little bits. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, 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:

• December | CA RxR 2.04: Route 1: San Luis Obispo (SLO) and Big Sur. Part 4 of Route 1, exploring everything about the segment in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County and the portion in Monterey County up through Big Sur until just S of Carmel. (Spotify for Podcasters)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the podcast in November and December 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 Tom Fearer⁽²⁾, Plutonic Panda⁽³⁾. rte66man⁽⁴⁾: Route 1^(ℱ), Route 2^(ℱ), Route 11^(ℱ), I-15^(ℱ), Route 20^(ℱ), Route 24^(ℱ), Route 29^(ℱ), Route 31⁽²⁾, Route 33^(ℱ), Route 37^(ℱ), Route 46^(ℱ), Route 64^(ℱ), I-80^(ℱ), Route 94⁽²⁾, Route 99^(ℱ), US 101^(ℱ), Route 117⁽²⁾, Route 121^(ℱ), Route 154^(ℱ), Route 160^(ℱ), Capitol Southeast Corridor (Route 148)⁽⁴⁾, Route 199^(ℱ), Route 222^(ℱ), Route 258^(ℱ), US 399^(ℱ), I-405^(ℱ), I-580^(ℱ), I-710⁽³⁾.
(Source: private email through 11/23/2023, Highway headline posts through the December Headline post, AARoads through 12/28/2023)

Research for Episodes 2.11 and 2.12 of the podcast, on Route 2, resulted in updates to Route 2, US 66, LRN 61, LRN 162, LRN 165, and LRN 188.

Added links to the Metro Dorothy Payne Grey Transportation Library Primary Resources blog’s series on Past Visions of Los Angeles’ Transportation Future to the History of Southern California Freeway Development page.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2023-12-25. 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. The State Assembly and Senate are still in their Fall recess, and there are no new bills introduced.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission. This covered the December meeting. The following items were of interest:

• 12b. December 2023 Application No. 1-23-0773 (Caltrans, South Broadway Complete Streets, Eureka, US 101)

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the results of the December 2023 meeting 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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2023 is rapidly coming to a close, and so I wanted to get the December headline post out a little early. The primary reason is that I need to go through the December headlines to finish off the November/December updates to the highway pages. You can expect that post to follow on the heels of this one, pretty shortly. There may also be another podcast episode, but we’re having trouble scheduling the recording session. So it’s more likely you’ll get 2-3 episodes in January to make up for a light December. Next up: The election year of 2024. Oh. Boy.

December was busy, what with the conference in Austin at the beginning of the month, and our daughter coming into town. We got one episode recorded and up — and it was an interesting one, talking all about Big Sur and the impact of highway closures there. We had planned on recording another episode this week, but various issues have delayed that. I hope we’ll be able to record it this weekend, and perhaps I’ll get it edited and up — but who knows. On the positive side, the scripts for the two Route 2 episodes are written and being reviewed. A short break, and then I’ll start researching and writing Season 3, covering Route 3 through Route 7. As always, 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 this month:

• CA RxR 2.04: Route 1: San Luis Obispo (SLO) and Big Sur.  In Episode 2.04 of California Highways: Route by Route, we continue our exploration of Route 1 by exploring everything about the segment in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County and the portion in Monterey County up through Big Sur until just S of Carmel. This includes the Five Cities (Grover Beach, Pismo Beach, Shell Beach (actually part of Pismo Beach), Arroyo Grande, and Oceano (unincorporated county land serviced by the Oceano Community Services District)), San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Cayucos, Cambria, and San Simeon, as well as the (in)famous Big Sur. This episode also features an interview with Anneliese Ågren, a resident of Big Sur. As always, we go over the history of this segment of the route, the history of the route through various communities , the freeway plans, discuss relinquishments, names, and some current plans. We also talk about the history of slides on the Sur, and what people should know about the impacts of those slides. Looking forward, episode 2.05 will continue our exploration of Route 1 with the portions in Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Mateo county from Carmel through Devil’s Slide (Montara). (Spotify Link)

The updates to California Highways are nearly done; I just need to incorporate this headlines post. Other than that, theatre reviews have started up again. I’ve posted “new style” reviews for A Christmas Story – The Musical at the Ahmanson, and MJ – The Musical at the Pantages, as well as my plan for theatre reviewing going forward in 2024 (which includes a summary of my 2023 shows).

I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2024. Please spread the word about the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. Review it, rate it, share it. If you’re listening to the early episodes — yes, the sound quality does get better (I’ve learned a lot about audio editing). You’ll find it in your favorite podcatchers; you can also just subscribe to the RSS feed.  If you listen through Spotify or a podcatcher, I may even see the numbers go up. The Spotify RSS feed is here.  Our most played episode is just under 150 listens according to Spotify; for this season, the best is at 71 (Route 1 in LA County). I’d love to see the numbers grow.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for December:

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.]

Highway Headlines

• Caltrans Announces Public Information Meeting for Proposed State Route 154 and Foxen Canyon Road Intersection Improvements (The Santa Barbara Independent). Caltrans District 5 will hold a Public Information Meeting regarding a proposal to implement improvements at the intersection of State Route 154 and Foxen Canyon Road in Los Olivos. The public is invited to this meeting which will be held in an open house format at the St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley Episcopal Church at 2901 Nojoqui Avenue in Los Olivos on Tuesday December 12th from 6 pm until 8 pm. The public will be able to learn more about this project, view informational displays and ask questions of the project team, including staff from engineering, traffic operations and environmental. Caltrans considered current and future traffic volumes, collision data, and other factors to identify feasible safety enhancements that would address a pattern of collisions at the intersection and support safe and efficient travel for all users now and into the future. The preliminary evaluation indicates that a traffic signal or a roundabout would be feasible alternatives at the intersection. Now that the preliminary evaluation is complete, we will lead a more detailed analysis to identify a preferred solution, and we are looking for public input.
• Google apologizes for trapping Calif. drivers in the desert (SFGate). Google has apologized for sending a gaggle of Californians on a road to nowhere in the desert as they tried to make their way home from Las Vegas. The apology comes after Shelby Easler went viral on TikTok for documenting her experience after Google Maps promised her family a faster way out than Interstate 15. “The minute we got in the car to leave from Vegas, it popped up on Google Maps as a suggested alternative route to avoid the dust storm,” Easler told SFGATE over Instagram DMs.
• Toll lanes open on 405 Fwy in Orange County (KTLA). It’s finally here, Orange County. On Friday, new express lanes on the 405 Freeway opened, providing what officials say is a faster option for those willing to pay and less congestion for those who aren’t. “Everyone is going to benefit from this program,” Darrell Johnson, CEO of the Orange County Transportation Authority, told KTLA’s Ginger Chan. “We’re very proud of the work that we’ve done with our partners at Caltrans and all of the cities along the corridor.” The lanes, which span 16 miles from the 605 Freeway at the Los Angeles County line to State Road 73 in Costa Mesa, use electronic tolling, requiring drivers to have a FasTrak transponder.
• ＄ Mammoth $2 billion 405 Freeway project completes with express lanes opening (Los Angeles Times). The opening of new express lanes on the 405 Freeway in northwest Orange County on Friday marked the final step of a massive $2.16-billion highway improvement project. But in many ways, it also wrapped up one of the region’s last major freeway expansions as transportation officials move toward more sustainable and efficient investments. “The era of the big highway projects are over,” said Marlon Boarnet, an urban planning professor at USC and the director of the METRANS Transportation Consortium. “The big, big highway projects are going to become more rare. … [Future work] is going to become much more part of a more balanced system.”
• LAFD Finds Nearly 2 Dozen Freeway Underpasses Need Fixing (LAist). In the wake of the 10 Freeway fire, the Los Angeles Fire Department inspected all state-owned freeway underpasses in the city and has identified nearly two dozen properties with violations. LAFD inspectors reviewed 50 underpass properties that are similar to where that massive fire sparked in downtown L.A., and 23 of them were referred to the State Fire Marshal for fire code violations. In addition to fire code issues, inspectors were looking for health and safety code violations. Specifically, LAFD looked at hazardous materials storage that exceeds the state reporting threshold of 55 gallons of liquid, 200 cubic feet of gas, and 500 pounds of a solid. LAFD also kept an eye out for improper storage or use of hazardous materials.
• Driving on the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu is about to change (KTLA). An ambitious multi-million-dollar project begins Monday to improve safety and traffic flow along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, including the area where four Pepperdine University students were killed in a crash in October. As part of the “Traffic Signal Synchronization Project,” crews will install communication lines between existing traffic signals on PCH between John Tyler Drive and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Officials said this will allow signals to be controlled remotely by Caltrans to lower speeds and reduce congestion.

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November. The month where you start to get sick of pumpkin spice, and wonder why they are playing December holiday music so frippen early. Or is it just me. But one more month, and 2023 2023 will be in the history books. Then comes the election year of 2024. Oh. Boy.

November saw us recording two more episodes of the podcast; of these, one has been released and one is waiting to be edited. I may edit it during the Annual Computer Security Conference (ACSAC) next week, or it may be delayed a bit more. The Route 1 scripts are written; Route 2 will be written between Christmas and New Years.  As always, 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 this month:

• CARxR 2.03: Route 1 – Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  In Episode 2.03 of California Highways: Route by Route, we continue our exploration of Route 1 by exploring everything about the segment in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, from Solromar / Malibu at the edge of Ventura County to near Guadalupe in Santa Barbara County. We’ll go over the history of this segment of the route, the history of the route through various communities including Malibu, Oxnard, Ventura, Lompoc/Vandenberg and Orcutt. We’ll go over the freeway plans, discuss relinquishments, names, and some current plans. (Spotify Link)

Additionally, the Updates to California Highways for September and October are now posted to the California Highways site. I’ll be working on the next round of updates between Christmas and New Years. Lastly, for those that use iPod Classics, I’ve figured out (finally) how to mirror my iTunes Library to my Android phone. Might not be a big deal to you, but it is to me.

One last plug: For those in the cybersecurity field: Registration for the Annual Computer Security Conference open, but you only have two days. We start in Austin on Sunday.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for November:

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.]

Highway Headlines

• ＄ Napa Silverado Trail roundabout project moving forward (Napa Valley Register). Napa city officials have given staff the go-ahead on project approval and environmental evaluation for a roundabout project that will eventually replace a traffic-clogging five-way intersection east of downtown. The project to replace the current crossing with two roundabouts linking the Silverado Trail, Third Street, Coombsville Road and East Avenue won City Council approval in 2017, but has been slow to get off the ground. A partnership between the city and Caltrans, the project was slated for a 2022 groundbreaking and 2024 completion, but work was delayed in 2021. The city’s public works director, Julie Lucido, said at the time that funding took longer than the city and state expected, in part because the price increased from the original projection of $8.2 million to between $11 million and $20 million.
• Past Visions of Los Angeles’ Transportation Future: 1940s (Metro’s Primary Resources). The last 100 years of transit and transportation planning in Los Angeles hold stories full of challenges and opportunities, successes and failures, and some surprises, little known “firsts,” and enduring urban legends. We are taking a look back — decade by decade — at key resources from our collection to contextualize the seminal traffic, transit, and transportation plans for the region in order to provide greater understanding of how we arrived where we are today. The economic uncertainty of the 1930s gave way to a decade marked by a Second World War and continued rapid growth of Los Angeles. Military bases and ports serving the Pacific Theater in WWII, along with a burgeoning aerospace industry, primed Los Angeles for further growth — and all the planning, construction, operations and consequences that come with it. Following the conceptualization of the “freeway” as a new type of parkway in 1933, the opening of the region’s first “freeway” (the Arroyo Seco Parkway) in 1939 set the stage for a decade of numerous, extensive studies and plans for a highway network serving the rapidly growing and densifying County. One early effort was the July, 1941 Report on the Feasibility of a Freeway Along the Channel of the Los Angeles River from the San Fernando Valley to the Los Angeles – Long Beach Harbors.
• What the Golden Gate Is (Finally) Doing About Suicides (The New York Times (shared)). It was May 27, 1937, the opening day for a stunning new suspension bridge across a gap in the California coastline known as the Golden Gate. Before cars were allowed on the crossing, an estimated 200,000 people celebrated between the bridge’s four-foot-high rails, more than 200 feet above the water. Doris Madden, 11, was there with her parents. It was one of her favorite days of her childhood, a story she told until the end of her life. About 78 years later, in 2015, Madden’s 15-year-old grandson, Jesse Madden-Fong, was dropped off at his high school in San Francisco.
• Metro, Caltrans Announce I-5 Full Closure in Santa Clarita (SCVNews.com). The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the California Department of Transportation will fully close both northbound and southbound directions of Interstate 5 Golden State Freeway from the State Route 14 Antelope Valley Freeway to Calgrove Boulevard 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 4 to 8 a.m., Sunday, Nov. 5, to demolish the Weldon Canyon Road bridge. Motorists should expect delays and consider taking alternate routes during these closure periods.
• Projects Chosen for Climate Adaptation Funding (Streetsblog California). California Transportation Commission staff recommended fifteen projects to receive $309.2 million from the Local Transportation Climate Adaptation Program (LTCAP). The program was created in 2022 in response to concerns about the vulnerability of transportation to climate hazards including sea level rise, flooding, fire, and the like. The money comes from California – $148 million, allocated under S.B. 198 – and the federal PROTECT formula program established under IIJA. That program, Promoting Resilient Operations for Transformative, Efficient, and Cost-Saving Transportation (PROTECT), provides another $252.4 million over five years.
• Construction Confusion: Drivers encounter multiple projects on Sacramento freeways (Fox 40). If you had to use a movie title to describe Sacramento freeway construction, you might call it “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” The Caltrans website lists three dozen current projects at various stages in District 3, which includes much of the Sacramento region. Many of the projects involve freeway widening and repaving. That describes what is happening on Interstate 80 over the Yolo Causeway between Davis and Sacramento: a $280 million project with a target finish date of December 2027. There is also a $39 million dollar widening project along Interstate 5 in Sacramento from Arena Boulevard to the Yolo County line, scheduled for a summer 2025 completion.

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With respect to the highway pages, I’ve been busy the last few months. Writing podcast episodes. Recording podcast episodes. Collecting headlines. Incorporating headlines. Reviewing all the sources I review, plus researching scripts. The result: some piping hot updates for you. I’m please to announce that the updates for September and October (with a little bit of November, as least from AARoads) are done. I”ll take a bit of a breather for the conference, and then work on incorporating headlines from the last two months of the year. As always, “ready, set, discuss”.

This update covers September and October, and perhaps some of November 2023. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, 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:

• October | CARxR 2.01: Route 1 – Orange County. The start of a 10 episode series on Route 1. This episode focuses first on “first” highways, then LRN 1, and then all about Route 1 in Orange County.
• October | CARxR 2.02: Route 1 – Los Angeles County. The second episode on Route 1. This episode focuses on Route 1 in Los Angeles County.
• November | CARxR 2.03: Route 1 – Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. The third episode on Route 1. This episode focuses on Route 1 in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, up to about Guadalupe.

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the podcast in September and October 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 Anneliese Agren⁽²⁾, Tom Fearer⁽³⁾, Megan Löwenberg⁽⁴⁾, Joel Windmiller⁽⁵⁾: Route 1^(ℱ,2), LRN 2^(ℱ), I-5^(ℱ), I-10⁽³⁾, Sign Route 10⁽³⁾, Route 13^(ℱ), Sign Route 14⁽³⁾, Sign Route 18⁽³⁾, Route 20^(ℱ), Route 23^(ℱ), Sign Route 24⁽⁵⁾, Route 30⁽⁴⁾, Route 33^(ℱ), Route 34^(ℱ), Route 37^(ℱ), US 40A⁽⁵⁾, Route 46^(ℱ), Route 47^(ℱ), LRN 56^(ℱ), Route 58^(ℱ), US 60⁽³⁾, Route 70^(ℱ,5), US 70⁽³⁾, Route 71^(ℱ,3), Route 90^(ℱ), Route 91^(ℱ,3), AZ Route 95^(ℱ,3), Route 98⁽³⁾, Route 99^(ℱ), US 101^(ℱ,3,5), Route 110^(ℱ), Route 113⁽⁵⁾, Sign Route 118^(ℱ), Route 121^(ℱ), Sign Route 126^(ℱ), Route 131^(ℱ,2), Route 135^(ℱ), LRN 153^(ℱ), LRN 154^(ℱ), Route 210^(ℱ), Route 215⁽³⁾, Route 226⁽³⁾, Route 230⁽³⁾,  Route 232^(ℱ), Route 251⁽²⁾, Route 274⁽³⁾, US 395⁽⁵⁾, I-405^(ℱ), I-580^(ℱ),  I-980^(ℱ), County Sign Route J14⁽³⁾, County Sign Route J18⁽³⁾, County Sign Route J19⁽³⁾, County Sign Route N1^(ℱ).
(Source: private email through 11/23/2023, Highway headline posts through the October Headline post, AARoads through 11/23/2023)

While doing research for the California Highways: Route by Route podcast, in addition to the changes to specific route pages, I identified some useful broader resources. Some of these used to be on Caltrans pages, but were lost during the accessibility remediation, if not before. Through my research, and with the help of Anneliese Agren⁽²⁾, these have been made available on this website as indicated:

• On the Caltrans Resources page:
  • “A History of Road Closures Along Highway 1, Big Sur Monterey and San Luis Obispo Counties, California ” (November 2001)⁽²⁾

Added some new resources to the Maps page:  Auto Club of California Strip Maps (1916-1920), David Smoller Map Collection (2201 maps covering primarily California, including Auto Club maps). I also received a pointer to a San Diego specific index of maps in the San Diego library, but couldn’t find the links to the maps themselves. I was also provided a resource for dating old Auto Club maps. Thanks to Vic Turner for finding these resources. Adding a link to USGS Topoview.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2023-10-15. Although this was about a month before posting these updates, it was sufficient to catch what the governor signed in the 2023 legislative session. New bill introduction will be captured in the next update. 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. Noted the passage (or veto) of the following bills and resolutions:

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