California Highway Headlines for March 2017

[cahwyguy]

It's been a busy busy month. Here are the headlines. Have fun. Discuss. If I missed a headline, please let me know.

http://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=12857

[Max Rockatansky]

Some thoughts...

-  Those bridges on Old 66 east of Amboy have needed to be replaced for a seriously long time.  The weight limits were at a laughably low level and the situation was very obviously becoming worse.  The bridges in question were being worked on last year before the winter storms hit.  I would still like to really know why the Goffs Bypass alignment of 66 was closed east of Essex...I would imagine the reasons are similar.

-  Kind of neat that the suicide barriers don't obstruct the outward views from the Golden Gate Bridge.  I know the bridge is an attractive target for people committing suicide, but at least there was a solution that didn't require messing up the view.

-  Looks like that 5.2 billion bill went through in regards to transportation.  Hopefully there is an overzealous push to use a good chunk of that money on the High Speed Rail...that whole language about "protecting transportation funds" sounds more like an attempt to protect said project than fix roads damaged this winter.  If anyone has details on the distribution of the funding I would love to have a look at it.

- Really now it looks like that nobody aside from locals in the Big Sur area are going to see much of anything for the next month at minimum.  Asides from Pfeiffer Canyon the rest of the slides show a present reopening of May 1st on the Caltrans quickmap.  Six months is probably optimistic to replace the Pfeiffer Canyon bridge IMO....too bad 140 and 39 couldn't ever get the same treatment.

-  A bike lane/walking path on the Coronado Bridge on 75 would be really handy...and really is way over due since it would encourage a lot of people not to use cars.  Really all of 75 in Coronado could use pedestrian bridges in general...worst damn car accident in my life was there when someone tried to cross the eastbound lane and didn't see me in the cross-walk.  I guess having a car would have been mighty handy in my case....

[Plutonic Panda]

Two things, I hope very little of the road bill money goes to public transportation and I'm praying the 710 tunnel bill gets killed and the the project moves forward.

I think in order for that thing to get going it will have to have no new taxes especially if people in Los Angeles don't support it as the article states and maybe some money from the 4 billion dollars a year this new bill might bring could be used to help with it.

[Plutonic Panda]

Max, I found this that explains some of the funding: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1

[Max Rockatansky]

Max, I found this that explains some of the funding: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1

Greatly appreciated, I'll have to go over it tomorrow when I'm not focusing on college basketball.

[The Ghostbuster]

I'm actually surprised by the labor unions opposition to the 710 bill. However, will that opposition be enough to prevent the bill from eventually becoming law?

[theroadwayone]

Two things, I hope very little of the road bill money goes to public transportation and I'm praying the 710 tunnel bill gets killed and the the project moves forward.

I think in order for that thing to get going it will have to have no new taxes especially if people in Los Angeles don't support it as the article states and maybe some money from the 4 billion dollars a year this new bill might bring could be used to help with it.

Didn't I hear somewhere that it was planned to be a toll tunnel or something?

[compdude787]

Two things, I hope very little of the road bill money goes to public transportation and I'm praying the 710 tunnel bill gets killed and the the project moves forward.

I think in order for that thing to get going it will have to have no new taxes especially if people in Los Angeles don't support it as the article states and maybe some money from the 4 billion dollars a year this new bill might bring could be used to help with it.

Didn't I hear somewhere that it was planned to be a toll tunnel or something?

Yes, it is planned to be one.

[sparker]

Max, I found this that explains some of the funding: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB1

As of today (4/3), the Jarvis anti-tax group is running radio ads opposing the transportation funding/tax increase bill (not surprising in general, but very surprising in how fast they got their effort going compared to their past record).  Also (got this from 740 AM here in Bay area) amendments are being considered right & left -- one in particular outlaws transit strikes; this may alienate key Democratic backers -- even though the amendment was offered by a moderate Dem. representative from Concord.  Thus there's a distinct possibility that Brown & Co. will need a bit of Republican help to push the bill through -- which may mean concessions to San Joaquin Valley interests (possibly more upgrades of 99?) in order to secure support.  The Jarvis folks may not have the clout of years past, but they still scare less-than-rock-rigid Republicans re potential primary opposition; some sort of "sweetener" to counteract the risk may be necessary for state representatives to demonstrate that they're attending to local needs. 

[Plutonic Panda]

SB-1 was passed. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but when might we see new projects start popping up related to the new funding?

[sparker]

SB-1 was passed. Sorry if this is a stupid question, but when might we see new projects start popping up related to the new funding?

According to KCBS radio, some repair work (actual locations and details should be made public in the next few weeks) will commence within 2-3 months, well in advance of actual receipt of funds.  They're not going to repeat the Gray Davis mistake of instituting new gas taxes but waiting until the funds accrue before starting repair/construction projects (one of the catalysts for his 2003 recall!).  With the anti-tax crowd already aiming their weapons, Caltrans and their gubernatorial handlers are more than eager to demonstrate real and visible productivity in this regard!

[compdude787]

Two things, I hope very little of the road bill money goes to public transportation and I'm praying the 710 tunnel bill gets killed and the the project moves forward.

So I'm assuming that the bill to cancel the 710 tunnel got rejected, right?

[Plutonic Panda]

Two things, I hope very little of the road bill money goes to public transportation and I'm praying the 710 tunnel bill gets killed and the the project moves forward.

So I'm assuming that the bill to cancel the 710 tunnel got rejected, right?

oh I really hope so! That would be great news even though I'm not sure how much closer it puts us to getting the tunnel project to come to fruition.

[The Ghostbuster]

I still don't have my hopes up very high for a constructed 710 tunnel. I think the NIMBYS on the northern end will ultimately prevail in killing it.

[sparker]

I still don't have my hopes up very high for a constructed 710 tunnel. I think the NIMBYS on the northern end will ultimately prevail in killing it.

Most of the NIMBY's are in South Pasadena, which sits above the projected midpoint of the tunnel.  Pasadena folks are relatively accustomed to the fact that the 710 stub-end has been in place since the mid-70's -- although it's not likely they're looking forward to additional traffic coming out of the north tunnel portal.  I should add that a close family friend who was and is directly in the path of the original 710 surface alignment is among those NIMBY's; she lives in an older unreinforced adobe structure and is concerned about vibrations and other side-effects of tunnel construction underneath her property.   There's plenty of folks like her along the 710 path -- and they have demonstrated enough clout to keep any projects in the planning stages only.  Frankly, I don't see this corridor happening within 25 years or so. 

[theroadwayone]

You do know, I hope the tunnel gets constructed. And while I'm at it, I also support building the 241; when I was in high school, I gave a speech on why we should build it.

I only support this stuff just to annoy environmentalists more than anything else, really.