Day: February 28, 2022

And the first updates for 2022 to the California Highways Website are live. Enjoy. And as always… ready, set, discuss …

February 2022:

And with the flip of a calendar page, we’re in a new year. Hopefully 2022 will see the COVID numbers continue to decline, continuing infections go down, and our moving into an endemic vs a pandemic phase. We will eventually get this to a level where we can live with it, and it will be like a seasonal flu: fatal for some, a serious illness for others, mild for still others, and some will be resistant. As always, you can do your part to help us return to the new normal, when we can get out on the road again: do what you can do to stop the spread of the disease (wear masks, get vaccinated), and stay home when you don’t feel well or have been around folks that might have been contagious. I know this sounds like a broken record each update, but I’m tired of dealing with this from the last two years. I’m doing my part—with your help, perhaps we can get past this.

Beyond that, 2022 has started out really busy: We’re understaffed at work and the customer wants more (and we’re looking for good folks, so if you see something of interest let me know and I might be able to refer you in). My wife is still recovering from her fall in November, and I’m still acting as a caregiver. We still have the occasional theatre. But I’m taking some time to get these updates done for you. So let’s begin, shall we?

Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers in January and February 2022 (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 GaryA⁽²⁾, Nathan Edgars (NE2)⁽³⁾, Tom Fearer⁽⁴⁾, Great Lakes Roads⁽⁵⁾, Tike Narry⁽⁶⁾]: Route 1^(ℱ,4), Route 2^(ℱ), I-5^(ℱ), US 6⁽³⁾, Route 12^(ℱ), Route 17^(ℱ), Route 19⁽⁴⁾, Route 22⁽⁴⁾, Route 32^(ℱ), Route 35^(ℱ),  Route 37^(ℱ), Route 39⁽⁴⁾, US 40⁽⁴⁾, Route 42⁽⁴⁾, Route 47⁽³⁾, US 66⁽⁴⁾, Route 67⁽⁴⁾, Route 75^(ℱ), Route 78^(ℱ), I-80^(ℱ,4), Route 89^(ℱ), US 91⁽⁴⁾, Route 99^(ℱ,4), US 101^(ℱ), US 101A⁽⁴⁾, Route 103⁽³⁾, I-105⁽⁴⁾, Route 118^(ℱ,2), Route 123^(ℱ), Route 125^(4,5), I-215^(ℱ), Route 133^(ℱ,4), Route 138^(ℱ), Route 198^(ℱ), Route 231^(ℱ), Route 238^(ℱ),  Route 239⁽⁶⁾, Route 241^(ℱ,4), Route 261^(ℱ,4), I-505^(ℱ), Route 710^{(ℱ, 3)}, I-880^(ℱ).
(Source: private email, Highway headline posts through February 27, 2022 as indicated, AARoads through 02/27/2022)

Added the Gribblenation page “Golden State Highways” to the appropriate regional links page. As a reminder: If you have a regional page (state, country), please let me know so I can add it to the links directory. Yes, this is old-fashioned in these days of search engines, but it still does serve to increase the visibility and ranking of all sites.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the 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. The last day for bills to be introduced is Feb 18; to get a new bill after that, and existing bill must be amended. As a result, quite a few “non-substantial changes” bills are introduced as placeholders. These bills that make a minor meaningless grammatical change in some provision, just so there is a bill in the system that can later be amended to do something else after the deadline for introducing bills has passed. Some of the more amusing ones are AB1673 (Counties); AB1901 (California State Boundaries); AB1953 (Assembly Great Seal); AB1967 (State Government); AB2174 (Traffic Control Devices); AB2493 (Cities and Counties); AB2760 (Utility poles and structures); and SB1243 (Counties). This also shows “hot topics” for the year, included bills related to retail shoplifting, cryptocurrency, catalytic converter thefts, broadband equity, and elections. At this point, no bills have been passed in the 2022 session. Note: As a side-impact of this, I made some formatting changes to make the legislative page easier to read.

Through the headline discovery I do, I discovered the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission. I reviewed the agenda for the 2021 and 2022 Coastal Commission meetings, and noted the following actions that rose to the level of Highway Page significance:

• February 2022 (Weds., 11.a) Application № 4-21-0182 (Caltrans, Santa Barbara Co.).
  Application of Caltrans to replace Route 217 bridge at San Jose Creek with new bridge with four traffic lanes, standard bridge railings and shoulders, separated bicycle and pedestrian path, and coastal hazards adaptation features, located between the City of Goleta and the University of California, Santa Barbara in unincorporated Santa Barbara County. (SD-V)
  ❧ Moved to Consent Calendar, APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS
• September 2021 (Thurs., 10.a): September 2021 Application № 1-21-0074 (Caltrans, Fort Bragg)
  Application of California Department of Transportation to widen two-lane Route 1 bridge over Pudding Creek to add shoulder width and separated pedestrian walkways with relocation of utility lines and drainage improvements at Highway 1 crossing of Pudding Creek in City of Fort Bragg, Mendocino County. (AL-A)
  ❧ Moved to Consent Calendar, APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS
• January 2021 (Weds 11.a) January 2021 Application № 1-20-0422 (Caltrans, Del Norte County)
  Application of California Department of Transportation to demolish and replace existing two-lane U.S. Highway 101 (Dr. Fine) bridge over Smith River with new two lane bridge with separated pedestrian walkway and construct temporary detour bridge, relocate utility lines, and replace culverts at Highway 101 crossing of Smith River, Del Norte County. (TG-A)
  ❧ APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the results of the January 2022 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: