July. The month for brush fires, roadtrips, and vacations. Also the month for highway work, and highway headlines:
- Roadshow: Is there hope for the torturous trek over Pacheco Pass?. Q: I know it’s been a few weeks, but I am still recovering. It took me four hours to go from Mountain View to Interstate 5 on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend on highways 101 and 152. I knew it was going to be bad, but four hours? To go about 90 miles? Something must be done. HOV lanes? Yes! Toll roads? Yes! Eminent domain? Yes! We need a four-lane freeway from 101 to I-5. It is absurd to have a two-lane chokepoint like this on Highway 152 for millions of people in the South Bay. Is there any hope?
- Isolated part of California’s Big Sur opens to public again. A portion of Big Sur which has been cut off since February by a collapsed bridge and a massive landslide is accessible again. Specifically, a public hiking trail that links visitors to popular tourist attractions in south Big Sur opened on Saturday. A daily shuttle takes visitors to the half-mile trail, which was initially built for locals to circumvent the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge after it was badly damaged by winter storms and had to be demolished.
- More Than $34 Million Awarded to 125 Projects Under Cap-and-Trade Fund. Caltrans today announced that 125 local projects received $34.5 million in funding from the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program. These projects continue California’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the sustainability of public transportation systems around the state.
