Day: June 3, 2023

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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