California Highway Headlines: 7/1/13 – 7/15/13

Need to escape from the heat of July? How about some headlines:

• It Might be Hot, but Antonovich Wants It HOTter on the Westside. Last week, news broke slowly that then Metro Board Chair and County Supervisor Mike Antonovich wants Metro staff to examine whether or not it makes sense for the HOV lanes on the I-405 to become High Occupancy Toll Lanes to offset the ever expanding budget of the widening.
• Metro votes to block 710 Freeway extension project, studies continue. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority this week voted to block fast-track funding for the Long Beach (710) Freeway extension over the next 10 years. While the proposal to extend the 710 Freeway to the Foothill (210) Freeway will be prevented from getting a share of the $9.4 billion in accelerated funding, studies on five alternatives for closing the gap, including a controversial proposal for a tunnel, will continue.
• Highway 126 expansion to begin soon. Citing a need to address growing traffic concerns and the potential for short and long-term economic benefits, a partnership of state and county agencies is planning to break ground on a $50 million project to expand and reroute Highway 126 near the Valencia Commerce Center.
• Metro Board removes 710 extension from accelerated projects. Opponents of the SR-710 north extension rejoiced this week after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board voted not to include the controversial freeway completion in a plan to accelerate projects funded by Measure R. The board voted 9-3 to approve $9.4 billion in accelerated funding for second and third decade Measure R transit and highway projects approved by voters in 2008 half cent sales tax referendum, as a substitute to the failed Measure J last November.
• Wall Street green lights Highway 91 expansion. The blinking yellow light to begin expansion of Highway 91 in Corona has turned green. The Riverside County Transportation Commission has announced the sale of bonds to pay for the construction, operation, and maintenance of the project. The funding ensures that work on the highway widening and new toll lanes in Corona will begin by the end of the year, even as land acquisition along the highway continues. Completion is set for 2017.
• Bay Bridge opening postponed indefinitely due to retrofit delays. Transportation officials announced on Monday that they would postpone opening the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge eastern span indefinitely due to delays in completing the retrofit for broken bolts on the eastern pier of its suspension span.
• New Bay Bridge opening postponed until at least December. The Bay Bridge’s broken bolts have busted the schedule, forcing the construction team to postpone for weeks or months the opening of the Bay Area’s new signature bridge while critics lambaste the designers and builders for missteps that contributed to the delay. Citing a longer than expected timetable to retrofit the seismic stabilizers where key anchor rods snapped in March, transportation leaders acknowledged Monday that the span will not open to traffic immediately the morning after Labor Day as planned. No new opening date has been set.
• Ramp meter lights could become operational this year. Ramp metering lights along eastbound Interstate 80 in Fairfield could be operating this fall, with more metering lights to follow in Vacaville and Vallejo. Lights on Fairfield onramps have sat unused for several years. Before turning them on, the state Department of Transportation wants to reach an agreement with local communities on operational policies that will apply countywide.
• Lawmakers frustrated by delay in Bay Bridge span opening. State legislators were disappointed to hear Monday that the opening of a new span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be delayed at least three months, until December, in order to strengthen the structure after the failure of several bolts.
• California Highways 1924-1961. The Metro Library has worked with Occidental College to digitize the run of the California Department of Highways “California Highways” magazine. Online Search via our Google Appliance: http://search3.metro.net/search?proxystylesheet=Public&ie=UTF-8&access=p&proxycustom=<HOME/>&proxyreload=1. Directory of individual Issues: http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/Californiahighways/.
• City May Fight Orange County 405 Expansion Plans. California’s Department of Transportation wants to add a lane or two to the 405 Freeway in Orange County, then squeeze traffic back into the current number of lanes as the freeway crosses the border into Long Beach. When Caltrans prepared the initial Environmental Impact Report for the project, it stopped discussion of impacts at the Orange County line. Long Beach officials protested, saying that the plan clearly would impact both the freeway ramps in Long Beach and the intersections near the freeway.
• OCTA Invites Residents, Commuters to July 24 Public Hearing about I-405 Traffic Study. OCTA’s project team invites residents and commuters in Orange County to a public hearing Wednesday, July 24 to learn about a supplemental traffic study for the San Diego Freeway (I-405) Improvement Project. Participants will have the opportunity to review new traffic information relevant to the Long Beach area, ask questions and share their comments from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hill Classical Middle School, 1100 Iroquois Ave. in Long Beach.
• Concepts for High Desert Corridor unveiled. Transportation officials unveiled Wednesday various concepts for a proposed High Desert Corridor from the Antelope Valley to San Bernardino County that would allow travelers to bypass some of the busiest freeways in Los Angeles County, and potentially link the California High Speed Rail project to Las Vegas.
• Possible quick fix to Bay Bridge broken rods. Two days after transportation officials called off the planned Labor Day opening for the new Bay Bridge and said it may not be ready until at least December, an independent review panel on Wednesday suggested an interim fix that just might allow it to open on schedule. Dr. Frieder Seible, former dean of the UC San Diego School of Engineering and a member of a three-person Caltrans seismic safety peer review panel, told the Bay Area Toll Authority that while contractors are installing fixes to secure two seismic safety devices rendered useless by broken high-strength rods, they should make a simple, inexpensive and temporary change to two other devices that would make the bridge safe in an earthquake. Similar report from SF Examiner.
• High Desert Corridor Highway Project Continues to Morph Right in Front of Our Eyes. There’s no way to look at the proposed “High Desert Corridor” Project and not see a mammoth highway project. The 63 mile project will add hundreds of freeway lane miles between the City of Palmdale in L.A. County and the quaint sounding Town of Apple Valley in San Bernadino County. The highway will be up to eight lanes in some sections and as “small” as two lanes in others.