Day: January 2, 2021

And with that, 2020 comes to a close. What a year it has been. We started out thinking this was going to be a somewhat normal election year. What we ended up with was a dumpster fire: a year consumed by a pandemic, with far too many deaths, far too many trips curtailed, and an election that seems to never want to end. There are some things you don’t want to see in your rear view mirror, such as a CHP cruiser with red lights flashing. But there are somethings that are best in the rear view, receding away. 2020 is in that latter group.

But as we enter 2021, we can take some comfort in that we’ve been rebuilding the roadbed, and that rebuilt foundation should be strong. We need to watch out for the fringes of the road. If they continue to deteriorate, they can weaken the stability of the entire road. But if we take care to not let the fringes (on either side) overwhelm us, and if we follow both the written and unwritten rules of the road, we should be able to travel safe. May 2021 see us all arrive at our destinations safely, and see us back on the roads and byways of this great land.

On to the updates.

Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the papers (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⁽¹⁾, contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or ꜲRoads) from Michael Ballard⁽²⁾, Nathaniel B⁽³⁾, Mark Dierking/Metro.Net⁽⁴⁾, Tom Fearer⁽⁵⁾, Andy Field⁽⁶⁾, Kurumi⁽⁷⁾, John Lumea⁽⁸⁾, Scott Parker⁽⁹⁾, Joe Rouse⁽¹⁰⁾, Chris Sampang⁽¹¹⁾, Joel Windmiller⁽¹²⁾: Route 1⁽¹⁾, Route 3^(5,9), Route 4⁽¹⁾, I-5^(1,5,2), Route 11⁽¹⁾, Route 12⁽¹⁾, Route 20⁽¹⁾, Route 25⁽¹⁾, Route 29⁽¹⁾, Route 33^(11,9), Route 36⁽⁵⁾, Route 38⁽¹⁾, I-40⁽¹⁾, US 48⁽⁵⁾, Route 49^(1,5), US 50⁽¹⁾, Route 51⁽¹²⁾, Route 52⁽¹⁾, Route 55⁽¹⁾, Route 57⁽¹⁾, Route 58⁽¹⁾, Route 60⁽¹⁾, Route 71⁽¹⁾, Route 74⁽¹⁾, Route 76⁽¹⁾, Route 78⁽¹⁾, I-80^(1,3,8), Route 91^(1,5), Route 92⁽¹⁾, Route 96⁽¹⁾, US 97⁽⁵⁾, US 99^(2,5,12), US 101⁽¹⁾, I-105⁽¹⁾, Route 108^(1,5), Route 120^(1,5), Route 125⁽¹⁾, Route 140⁽¹⁾, Route 156⁽¹⁾, Route 172⁽⁵⁾, Route 180⁽⁵⁾, Route 219⁽⁵⁾, Route 221⁽¹⁾, Route 254⁽⁵⁾,  Route 262⁽¹¹⁾, Route 263⁽⁵⁾, Route 265⁽⁵⁾, Route 271⁽⁵⁾, I-280^(7,9), US 395⁽¹⁾, I-405⁽¹⁾, I-580⁽¹⁾, I-605⁽¹⁾, I-680⁽¹⁾, I-710^(1,4), Route 740⁽¹⁾, I-880⁽¹⁾, Route 905⁽¹⁾, County Sign Route A12⁽⁵⁾, County Sign Route A28⁽⁵⁾, County Sign Route G15⁽⁵⁾, County Sign Route S21⁽¹⁾.

Added a link for the newly created Historic Highway 99 Association of California to all the appropriate places. Added a page on the US Bicycle Route System, as County Sign Route S21 was about to be designated as part of USBRS Route 95. Added a link to the 1935 State Highway Map⁽⁵⁾. Update the page on exit numbering^(6,10).

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the new California Legislature site. 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. A new legislative session started after the November elections; all of the 2019-2020 bills are dead. For the 2021-2022 legislative session, this is extremely early in the session and there were very few bills to review, and even fewer related to transportation.

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the results of the California Transportation Commission meetings from October through December 2020. 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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