California

[myosh_tino]

- Interstate 80 at Donner Summit was closed a day or two ago due to a large mudslide and downed power lines (http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-live-winter-weather-california-i-80-closed-in-both-directions-near-1483946038-htmlstory.html)

It closed today too due to white out conditions. They had an avalanche at Alpine Meadows that closed 89 for a while, then US 50 east of Placerville was stopped for at least an hour due to avalanche danger.

I-80 was shut down late Monday night from Colfax to the California/Nevada border and has been closed ever since.  Looking at the CHP logs, Caltrans is making an attempt to reopen the freeway sometime this afternoon depending on weather conditions.  As I am writing this, it's still snowing over Donner Pass.  (Update: I-80 has reopened as of 1 PM but chain controls are still in effect.)

US 50 was shut down Tuesday afternoon for avalanche control but apparently so much snow was falling, Caltrans keep it closed overnight.

[coatimundi]

The 152/156 junction closed earlier today due to flooding. The rain's stopped here for now, so that seems to have taken care of that issue. But, for a while, Pacheco Pass was basically shut down to high profile loads due to wind. Same happened to 395 this afternoon.

Ongoing from earlier today:
- SR 16 is closed east of SR 20
- SR 128 is closed west of Winters due to slide
- SR 113 is closed north of Rio Vista due to sinkhole

Looks like 50, I-80 and SR 89 are all back open tonight though. Probably be closed again tomorrow though, when the next system comes in.

[sparker]

Hollister was biting it pretty badly during the storm; CA 156 was closed west of town for some time, so westbound traffic had to detour via CA 25 and backtrack on US 101.  This, of course, caused traffic to back up in both directions on CA 25 (which isn't a picnic normally in any case).  To top it off, the flooding caused agricultural runoff to seep into the local groundwater, so the north side of town, which uses local wells for their normal supply, was without potable water for at least 2 days (and counting!). 

[andy3175]

Didn't realize the damage to the commute caused by a closure of Laurel Canyon Boulevard last week due to mudslide. The roadway partially reopened on 1/15/2017.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-laurel-canyon-mudslide-traffic-20170115-story.html

Los Angeles officials have restored limited access to Laurel Canyon Boulevard, unclogging a major north-south traffic artery that was shut down last week after a mudslide.

Southbound traffic can now use the full stretch of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, said Edward Yu, an engineer with the city's Department of Transportation. Northbound drivers will be detoured onto Laurel Canyon Road between Kirkwood and Mount Olympus drives, he said.

The announcement comes four days after a mudslide sent part of a home's patio down a hillside, pushing debris onto the busy boulevard. That, in turn, prompted officials to close a section of the street, which serves as a crucial north-south route between the Westside and Studio City in the San Fernando Valley.

On Saturday, building inspectors determined the hillside had been stabilized. Large concrete barriers have been installed on part of Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Truck traffic remains prohibited.

[andy3175]

I'm not too familiar with this intersection, which was the subject of a recent $27.5 million jury award. This incident occurred at Pacific Coast Highway and Diamond Street near Redondo Beach City Hall, which is part of California SR 1 (along a segment still maintained by Caltrans, unlike certain other segments that have been transferred back to several local municipalities).

http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20170114/whats-next-for-the-redondo-beach-intersection-blamed-in-275-million-crash-verdict

Last week, jurors found Caltrans negligent for failing to make the slightly inclined, diagonal intersection safer despite a history of collisions and complaints about visibility. They also found some blame on the part of the taxi driver who collided with Amir "Nick"  Ekbatani, the former UCLA offensive lineman who lost a portion of his left leg in the crash.

Ekbatani was traveling northbound on PCH in the late evening of July 14, 2012, when he was struck by a southbound taxi making a left turn onto Diamond Street. ...

The striping of two double-double yellow lines to form a simulated median on the pavement would give left turners "positive guidance,"  Mardirossian said, and a left-turn signal would have prevented the accident. ...

Redondo Beach Mayor Steve Aspel said city engineers will meet with Caltrans officials to get the ball rolling on intersection improvements.

The city originally was named in the lawsuit, but was dropped from the case after successfully arguing it does not control the intersection at the west end of Redondo Union High School and has no liability.

"We are requesting meetings with Caltrans to see if we can help rectify it and speed up anything that needs to be done,"  Aspel said. "It's their final call, but it does concern me because so many kids from the high school cross right there. PCH is a highway and people travel too fast and they don't understand those intersections are at an angle."

Intersections are supposed to have 90-degree angles, Mardirossian said, but PCH and Diamond Street form a 60-degree angle.

[Quillz]

That has actually been the driving force behind many Caltrans-controlled intersections being converted to roundabouts. (For example, CA-154 and CA-246 used to meet at a >90 degree angle, so it was rebuilt as a roundabout).

At the very least, there should be a left turn arrow.

[Plutonic Panda]

Betty White Freeway

[roadfro]

Betty White Freeway

Care to elaborate or provide a context...?

[AsphaltPlanet]

Another southern California video from me.  This time it's the 71 and 60 freeways from Corona towards LA:

[sparker]

Another southern California video from me.  This time it's the 71 and 60 freeways from Corona towards LA:

Another great video!  Certainly shows what I do and don't miss about SoCal after moving north in 2012.  Looks like the left-turn private access on 71 just north of the 91 interchange is still in place (guess they're still moving equipment in & out of the construction staging area west of 71).  It would have been interesting if the trip would have continued NW on 71 just to see the level of freeway conversion progress between CA 60 and I-10. 

Quesion to A.P. (the poster):  Your captions indicate you made it up to Carson City that same day; did you use CA 14 north from the L.A. area or did you backtrack to US 395 via I-15 and Cajon Pass? -- and can we expect any further videos reflecting this portion of the trip (one can only hope!)?

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ Thanks for watching.  So on this day, I drove northerly from this point, kind of bypassing Downtown LA, and then took the Glendale and Foothill Freeways to the Newhall interchange and then went northeasterly on SR-14 from there to US-395.  I filmed the Glendale and Foothill Freeways, as well as SR-14 from Santa Clarita up to Palmdale.  I also filmed a few sections of US-395 as well.  This was my first time driving US-395, so I didn't know exactly what to film, but the footage generally looks alright.

So far, from this leg of of the trip, the only other video that I have put online is the SR-14 video:

This one is my favourite so far, as I think the music is really cool.  It's not normally a genre that I listen to, so it's hard to find good tracks to go along with the road footage, but I really like how this one turned out.

I haven't been uploading the footage in the order that it was filmed, but there are a few other California videos on my YT Channel.  I have linked everything that I have uploaded to this page, but here's the link to my YT channel for posterity.

https://www.youtube.com/user/AsphaltPlanet1/videos

I did drive the section of SR-71 a couple of days before this video was taken, but all I found at that time was a pretty significant traffic jam.  There were still traffic signals between the 60 and 57 freeways back in April when this was filmed.

[Quillz]

If you have never been on US-395 before, it's a pretty nice drive. Especially as soon as you pass Bishop, you start to rise dramatically into the Sierra. Then past Mammoth, you see Mono Lake on the horizon for miles. One of the best drives in the state, I think.

[AsphaltPlanet]

^ I drove US-395 last April when I took those videos.  I was just saying that to try and capture video, I wasn't sure exactly which stretches would be the best to film, because at that time I'd never driven it before.  Turned out though, that April was a great time to do the drive, because the Sierra's were still very much snow capped, but the valleys were warm and nice.

I'd like to drive some of the Trans-Sierra Highways at some point in the future, but I tend to go to California during the winter time when the passes are closed as a way to escape the cold and misery that is southern Ontario in the winter.

[sparker]

^ I drove US-395 last April when I took those videos.  I was just saying that to try and capture video, I wasn't sure exactly which stretches would be the best to film, because at that time I'd never driven it before.  Turned out though, that April was a great time to do the drive, because the Sierra's were still very much snow capped, but the valleys were warm and nice.

I'd like to drive some of the Trans-Sierra Highways at some point in the future, but I tend to go to California during the winter time when the passes are closed as a way to escape the cold and misery that is southern Ontario in the winter.

Cool stuff!  If you're ever in the Mono neck of the woods during spring or fall, be sure to make a side trip over CA 270 (and the following unimproved county road) to the ghost town of Bodie.  Well worth the trip.  The June Lake loop (CA 158) is also nice, but try to avoid it between June and September, when it's populated by -- well, I'll use a "nicer" term to describe them than I usually yell out the window -- unskilled drivers in massive RV's.  A couple of them blocking the road because they can't turn their rig around can mess up a whole afternoon! 

Don't blame you for wanting to escape Ontario in winter -- a good friend is originally from Sudbury -- and lived in Ottawa for many years -- and was eternally grateful when his company transferred him to their San Jose-area facility a few years ago (he's an EE).  He certainly doesn't miss the snow -- but has been complaining nonstop about how CA drivers can't or won't adapt to adverse weather such as we've been having up here for the last week or so (double-edged sword and all that!).

[Max Rockatansky]

^ I drove US-395 last April when I took those videos.  I was just saying that to try and capture video, I wasn't sure exactly which stretches would be the best to film, because at that time I'd never driven it before.  Turned out though, that April was a great time to do the drive, because the Sierra's were still very much snow capped, but the valleys were warm and nice.

I'd like to drive some of the Trans-Sierra Highways at some point in the future, but I tend to go to California during the winter time when the passes are closed as a way to escape the cold and misery that is southern Ontario in the winter.

Cool stuff!  If you're ever in the Mono neck of the woods during spring or fall, be sure to make a side trip over CA 270 (and the following unimproved county road) to the ghost town of Bodie.  Well worth the trip.  The June Lake loop (CA 158) is also nice, but try to avoid it between June and September, when it's populated by -- well, I'll use a "nicer" term to describe them than I usually yell out the window -- unskilled drivers in massive RV's.  A couple of them blocking the road because they can't turn their rig around can mess up a whole afternoon! 

Don't blame you for wanting to escape Ontario in winter -- a good friend is originally from Sudbury -- and lived in Ottawa for many years -- and was eternally grateful when his company transferred him to their San Jose-area facility a few years ago (he's an EE).  He certainly doesn't miss the snow -- but has been complaining nonstop about how CA drivers can't or won't adapt to adverse weather such as we've been having up here for the last week or so (double-edged sword and all that!).

I'll second the recommendation on CA 270 and Bodie.  That is one of the "must see" things in California that would fall in the category of an absolute.  Really CA 108, 4, and 120 all offer something unique....it is very hard to pick one that is wrong among the group....even Sherman Pass Road probably belongs in the top tier IMO.  Some of the stuff I want to get to personally this year would be; Whitney Portal, Onion Valley Road, and White Mountain Road just to name a few

[AsphaltPlanet]

Another California Video from me.  This time it's US-395 from Bishop northerly to Mammoth along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

[andy3175]

SR 74 (Ortega Hwy connecting Orange County with Riverside County) has a closure due to weather-related issues:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/caltrans-742193-highway-ortega.html

Because of the recent storms, Ortega is now sagging in a stretch, which was noticed Wednesday. Geo-technical engineers for Caltrans, after getting a report that the road seemed to be dipping, were inspecting the roadway when they discovered large cracks in the eastbound lanes, Whitfield said.

Caltrans needs to deeply assess the damage before determine when Ortega can re-open.

Over five days ending Monday, three storms dropped 5.6 inches of rainwater onto the area, according to the National Weather Service. Nearly 12 inches have fallen there this month.

The 8,000-acre Caspers Wilderness Park, an Orange County-operated swath along Ortega, was shut as well until the highway re-opens.

The historic highway originated in the 1920s and now stretches 32 miles over the Santa Ana Mountains.

For years there had been discussions to widen Ortega beyond largely one lane in each direction, but the proposal was scrapped a year ago after locals complained that would attract more development and vehicles.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/highway-742287-county-caltrans.html

Ortega Highway, a link between south Orange County and Riverside County, was closed to commuters Wednesday after sagging in the road was discovered following this weekend's heavy storms.

The highway is blocked to traffic going east at Antonio Parkway, three miles from the I-5 freeway, and going west at Grand Avenue in Lake Elsinore. Residents of the area are being allowed in to get to their homes, but the families of about 30 children are having to exit the area via Lake Elsinore and drive around to their schools in Orange County.

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^

Well hell...that's a rare one with 74.  It has been two days since that initial article and it isn't even on the quickmap:

http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

[AsphaltPlanet]

Freeway tour of Interstate 805 in San Diego:

[bigdave]

^^^^

Well hell...that's a rare one with 74.  It has been two days since that initial article and it isn't even on the quickmap:

http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

You know, maybe the drought wasn't so bad.   

[Max Rockatansky]

^^^^

Well hell...that's a rare one with 74.  It has been two days since that initial article and it isn't even on the quickmap:

http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

You know, maybe the drought wasn't so bad.   

Probably a lot of people from Oroville are saying that right now. 

[sparker]

^^^^

Well hell...that's a rare one with 74.  It has been two days since that initial article and it isn't even on the quickmap:

http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

You know, maybe the drought wasn't so bad.   

74 has, out of necessity for many inland commuters, been functioning as a "relief route" for CA 91 from at least the turn of the century -- despite its complete inappropriateness as a mass traffic mover.   I can't help but think that the wear & tear on that highway (even with its semi-truck prohibition) may have contributed to its structural issues, particularly on the segment deep in the canyon.  The recent rains may have just been the "last straw", so to speak.  CA 74 should have been at least realigned a decade ago, if not earlier.                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

[coatimundi]

^^^^

Well hell...that's a rare one with 74.  It has been two days since that initial article and it isn't even on the quickmap:

http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/

You know, maybe the drought wasn't so bad.   

74 has, out of necessity for many inland commuters, been functioning as a "relief route" for CA 91 from at least the turn of the century -- despite its complete inappropriateness as a mass traffic mover.   I can't help but think that the wear & tear on that highway (even with its semi-truck prohibition) may have contributed to its structural issues, particularly on the segment deep in the canyon.  The recent rains may have just been the "last straw", so to speak.  CA 74 should have been at least realigned a decade ago, if not earlier.                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

I saw something on the local news this morning in a similar vein. Soquel-San Jose Road outside Santa Cruz, which is used by some as a relief route for SR 17, has been closed by the county because one side has started to collapse at a curve. This was, in large part, due to it carrying more traffic than what it was designed for. No trucks, but enough vehicles to cause structural issues. It's possible that the recent closures of SR 17 exacerbated the problem.

[sparker]

                                                                                             

I saw something on the local news this morning in a similar vein. Soquel-San Jose Road outside Santa Cruz, which is used by some as a relief route for SR 17, has been closed by the county because one side has started to collapse at a curve. This was, in large part, due to it carrying more traffic than what it was designed for. No trucks, but enough vehicles to cause structural issues. It's possible that the recent closures of SR 17 exacerbated the problem.

Exactly right.  Except in emergencies, the largest vehicles usually on San Jose-Soquel are UPS/FedEx trucks.  It doesn't have the ballasting and underpinnings usually found on state highways, and certainly wasn't intended to serve as an alternative to CA 17; it just happens to be the closest (previously) unaffected route to that now-closed highway.  Except for the Scotts Valley "loop", much of CA 17 south of the summit was constructed directly atop the original route alignment, so there's not a suitable "old road" to serve as an alternative -- and CA 9 has its own problems, so it's not a viable alternative.  The Santa Cruz Mountains, in an extraordinary rainy season such as this one (and '82-'83, for that matter!) is essentially one large mass of mud looking to move downhill!

[kkt]

Oh, yeah.  A friend of mine lost his car around Boulder Creek in a very exciting evening in the flood of '82.  Fortunately he was able to walk out, and the car was only an old beater, but still.