Changes to California Highways (The Website) – Sept to Dec 2016

[cahwyguy]

Whew. The end of the year updates to the California Highways website are in. You can now go in via https:, but I haven't adjusted the scripts to generate internal links at https: (they are still just local references).

Change page at the site: http://www.cahighways.org/changes.html
Blog post of the same thing: http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=12457

This has got loads of stuff in it, so I won't burden the forums with the details. But the maps link now had direct links to all the state maps that have been referenced here; I've gone through the last few months of discussions here and captured relevant material for posterity (with credit, of course), as well as updating pages from the headlines. I've also gone through the legislative site and captured things -- you might want to look at the legislative links pages for the links to AB1 and SB1, which would be significant changes in transportation funding. I've also gone through the October and December CTC minutes for items of interest to me.

Here are the first few paragraphs of the change file as a tease (but you need to go see the real thing for the links):

First and foremost, the numbers at the start of the update are 39,653 songs on the iPod, with approx 383 on the "5 or Less" list and about 7200 on the "10 or Less" list. This is because updating the highway pages is a chance to play down the music lists. We know what is important. Alas, I added some music during the process, and ended up at 39707 songs total. 5 or less playlist at 407. 10 or less playlist at 7168.

We're at the end of 2016. Updates were a lot less frequent this year -- perhaps every four months, which is far too far apart. The end of 2016 has seen the election of Donald Trump, promises of Infrastructure Funding that may be like sugar plums, the passage of Measure M here in Southern California which will fund massive transit and less massive transportation improvements. What will the future bring? It is anyone's guess, but most people are glad that we're looking at 2016 in the rear view mirror.

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. This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research(1), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail) from Mike Ballard (sdmichael @ AARoads)(2), Ryan Carrigan(3), Coatamundi @ AARoads(4), Mike Cussen(5), pderocco @ AARoads(6), DTComposer @ AARoads(7), Andy Fields (Andy3175 @ AARoads)(8), Neal Parish(9), Sparker @ AARoads(10), Michael Regan(11), Max Rockatansky(12), Joe Rouse (jrouse @ AARoads)(13), Joel Windmiller (14): Route 1(1,7), Route 4(1), I-5(1,2,10), I-8(1), I-10(1), Route 11(1), Route 12(11), I-15(1,2), Route 17(1,9), Route 20(13), Route 24(9), Route 25(12), Route 29(1), LRN 33(12), Route 36(1), Route 39(1,10), Former US 40(9), Route 41(14,12), Route 46(12), Former US 50(9), Route 58(6), Route 65(1), US 66(1), Route 67(1), Route 71(1), Route 75(1), Route 76(1), I-80(1,4,13), Route 84(1), Route 85(1), Route 86(8), Route 91(1), Route 99(1,14), US 101(1,4,13,8), Route 108(1), Route 113(11), LRN 120(12), Route 125(1), LRN 125(12), Route 126(1), Route 138(1), Route 146(12), Route 156(1), Route 163(1), Route 180(14), I-215(1), Route 237(1), Route 241(8), Route 246(1), I-280(1), Route 299(1), Former US 399(12), Route 371(1), I-405(1), Former US 466(12), I-580(1), Route 710(1), I-805(1), Route 905(1), and Santa Clara County Route G4(1). In terms of link lists, the history links were updated(3). Also updated was the page with links to historical maps of relevance to California Highways(9,12). I'll note there were some particular good background information posts on AAroads -- I've hopefully been able to capture that information so it isn't lost into the void (with attribution, of course). I'll also note that reading AAroads reminded me of my philosphy on this website, and why it is so important: I focus on the history and actual routings. I don't view it as my place to speculate on numberings, control cities, or opinions on what should be or what Caltrans got right and wrong. That way leads to Dyspepsia, which I understand is a city on an underserved state route somewhere.

Discovered the Caltrans Mile Marker publication. I'll need to add this to my regular review list.

A public note to self: Gribblenation.com has closed, and Gribblenation.net is closing as of January 2017. Per the discussion over on AAroads, a number of pieces will be moving to new sites as of January 2017. This means I can't catch them in the December 2016 updates, but need to remember to catch them in the first update of 2017. I'll note the discussion paid this site a nice complement when it was noted: "The sites best-suited for long-term survival are pure historical sites, like cahighways.org". This is why I haven't emphasized the pictures, but have emphasized the history and keeping track of major projects -- new routings, new ramps, major construction. I like to be that source of history and reference. Updates may be less frequent, but they will continue.

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. Right now, we're at the point everything for this legislative session has been sent to the Governor for signature. This time period included the end of the previous legislative session and the start of the new one. For the prior legislative session (2015-2016), I noted the passage/veto of the following bills and resolutions (for some of these, I've highlighted key phrases in red): (...)