California Highway Headlines for February 2017

Started by cahwyguy, March 01, 2017, 10:52:14 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

cahwyguy

I just posted the highway headlines for February at http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=12761 . This is the thread for discussion of any of them.
Daniel - California Highway Guy ● Highway Site: http://www.cahighways.org/ ●  Blog: http://blog.cahighways.org/ ● Podcast (CA Route by Route): http://caroutebyroute.org/ ● Follow California Highways on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cahighways


Max Rockatansky

Looks like the closures on 37 were a huge problem until late last week.  I actually planned my trip around back tracking from Point Reyes inland via Novato just to avoid anything that kept popping up with the closures...luckily I didn't run into anything.  I had to plan around closures on; 9, 35, 1, 84, and 220....still had to drive through several flooded roadways.  128 had a lot of water on the ground and some slide outs, 129 did to a degree as well.  I was surprised 236 was open north out of Great Basin given the volume of debris...been one hell of a year with the weather. 

coatimundi

I saw last night that they had opened the northern SR 9 (closer to Saratoga) closure up with one lane in each direction. And it looks like both 84 and 152 are back online with the same config. That's good, I guess.

37 at least has a reasonable detour. Not good for the long-term, but it's at least not too disruptive.

What's the status on getting into the Yosemite Valley right now? 41 is closed, and it looks like 120 is closed. The NPS' blog on the flood stopped over a month ago. Are they back online and back to normal?

coatimundi

And not directly CA related since it's in a paragraph about I-345, but:
"Meanwhile, some local traffic might shift to walking or other modes"

Yep, and a monkey might fly out of my butt.
I can't imagine anyone actually saying that with a straight face, so I would guess there was a good chuckle when this was written.

But, on the 980 side, the rendering just confirms what I've been thinking about this proposal. You have a group of developers that see the Oakland gentrification and a swath of land that would be a lot more marketable if that pesky freeway weren't there, so they line up behind environmentalists and community activists under the guise of social reform.
I'm not expecting the Congress for New Urbanism to speak for all sides, but I feel like all sides aren't getting the full story.

cahwyguy

Quote from: coatimundi on March 01, 2017, 02:41:48 PM
What's the status on getting into the Yosemite Valley right now? 41 is closed, and it looks like 120 is closed. The NPS' blog on the flood stopped over a month ago. Are they back online and back to normal?

With respect to the Route 41 detours, look at http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-yosemite-road-20170227-story.html
Daniel - California Highway Guy ● Highway Site: http://www.cahighways.org/ ●  Blog: http://blog.cahighways.org/ ● Podcast (CA Route by Route): http://caroutebyroute.org/ ● Follow California Highways on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cahighways

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: coatimundi on March 01, 2017, 02:41:48 PM
I saw last night that they had opened the northern SR 9 (closer to Saratoga) closure up with one lane in each direction. And it looks like both 84 and 152 are back online with the same config. That's good, I guess.

37 at least has a reasonable detour. Not good for the long-term, but it's at least not too disruptive.

What's the status on getting into the Yosemite Valley right now? 41 is closed, and it looks like 120 is closed. The NPS' blog on the flood stopped over a month ago. Are they back online and back to normal?

Yeah it was kind of pins and needles to see if the route I wanted would really be available.  Really probably the hardest part was getting up 1 to 17 for whatever reason.  9, 236, and 35 were basically dead zones with the limited access up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, almost no traffic.  I would like to try 152 between US 101 and 1 to clinch the entire route finally.

In regards to 37, I'm fairly certain that I took the big alternate which would be Atherton Avenue...I would really hate to stuck in rush hour traffic though in that corridor.

This is what NPS.gov had linked over for 41 access to Yosemite:

http://dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/sr41

Speaking of Yosemite, man I've never seen 140 so clear of rock debris.  Really there has been a ton of emphasis on keeping that route going this winter, I went right after the large storms had passed through.  There was road sand even at the Merced River, I'd say maybe 1,200-1,400 feet above sea level.  It would have been a hell of thing to see snow at that low of an elevation.

The Ghostbuster

As for the story about the politician putting out a bill to prohibit the 710 tunnel, I believe it will be passed, signed by Governor Brown, and the gap of the Long Beach Expressway will forever remain disconnected.

Plutonic Panda


Plutonic Panda

So now there is no way to get it built? That bill really passed and it's over? That just ruined my day if that's the case.

The Ghostbuster

The bill hasn't passed yet, it was a proposal. The rest was just my prediction of what is most likely to happen, in my opinion.

Plutonic Panda

I see now. I hope it doesn't get passed but I fear you are right.

don1991

Quote from: Plutonic Panda on March 03, 2017, 05:39:10 PM
I see now. I hope it doesn't get passed but I fear you are right.

Even if it passes - and who expects otherwise with Moonbeam in office - it is not dead forever.   And actually, with the surface freeway off the table for now and the houses being sold, there is no urgency.  The tunnel can be built anytime with little to no ROW being needed, so when California gets better government some day (and there is always hope), then it will get built.

This could spark a good discussion of freeways once thought to be dead only to rise to life decades later.

Don

Plutonic Panda

I like your outlook! Thats the positivity this state needs.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.