October has been a quiet month. Major products (such as the Bay Bridge and the I-405 Sepulveda Pass project) are winding down, and money is moving more to transit, bikeways, and repairs as opposed to new roads or major route changes. Here’s what caught my eye during the month:
- Plan proposes $349 million in Highway 29 improvements. A new $349 million plan to improve Highway 29 in south Napa County includes having six lanes in American Canyon, building a Soscol flyover at Highway 221 and reconfiguring lanes at the Sonoma County turnoff. The plan also calls for giving Highway 29 a look and character in keeping with the areas it passes through, be it rural or city.
- Can a $5.4-billion tunnel plan fix the notorious 710 gap?. Officials have long blamed the unfinished 710 Freeway for congestion on nearby freeways and local streets. Opposition from cities led by South Pasadena has always quashed finishing the 710, but now, authorities are considering extending it with 4.9-mile-long twin tunnels. Light rail, enhanced bus service and wider streets are also being explored. Opponents who have sued to block construction before call the tunnel idea “public works boondoggle.”
- Mayors, regional leaders celebrate completion of 1st phase of widened Highway 84. Pleasanton Mayor Jerry Thorne joined other city, civic and regional leaders this week in officially marking the completion of the first phase of widening State Route 84 between the I-580 and I-680 freeways. With this widening project, the Isabel Avenue segment of Hwy. 84 is completed as a four-and six-lane throughway from I-580 to Stanley Boulevard.
- Without more funding, Bay Lights may go dark. A local landmark may go dark if millions of dollars in donations don’t come soon. The Bay Lights on the San Francisco side of the Bay Bridge offer a stunning, computer-generated display each night. It’s created by 25,000 twinkling, energy-efficient LED lights, its said to be the largest LED light sculpture in the world. And it could soon be blinking out for good, according to Illuminate The Arts founder Ben Davis.
- L.A. area has many freeways that stayed on the drawing board . When suburbs began spreading out across Southern California after World War II, officials envisioned a sprawling freeway system to get people around. But big chunks of that system were never built, and that’s one cause for the clogged commutes many face. [Note: I disagree with one of their maps — I have seen no evidence that the Whitnall Freeway (Route 64) was intended to connect to the Industrial Freeway down Normandie. That would have made an interesting loop around Los Angeles, as Route 64 also would have gone across Malibu Canyon]
- Gilman Street, I-80 interchange roundabouts receive Caltrans approval. A traffic infrastructure renovation at the intersection of Gilman Street and Interstate 80 has moved closer to realization after Caltrans approved a proposed double-roundabout design to address chronic traffic problems and a high number of accidents and complaints. The proposal includes two roundabouts, circular intersections in which incoming traffic yields to traffic traveling around the juncture. This design reduces fatal traffic accidents by as much as 90 percent, increases traffic flow — leading to reductions in emissions and fuel consumption — and promotes safer pedestrian access, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
