Headlines About California Highways – December 2024

[cahwyguy]

New Year. New Month. Hopefully new headlines.

Read them at https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17084

And then... Ready, set, discuss.

[Max Rockatansky]

Ironically Golden State Boulevard was part of the Fresno Road Meet in 2023 because it was old US 99 and had a crap ton of rail fan items. 

[pderocco]

"Caltrans Begins Bridge Overhaul on U.S. Route 101" -- The article says absolutely nothing about where this is. US-101 is over 750 miles long in California. It doesn't say whether what's being replaced is part of US-101 or something that crosses US-101. It says it's replacing "northbound and southbound" bridges, and that it will start with the "southern" bridge. If the bridges are "northbound and southbound" I would think one would be eastern and the other would be western. The article says this is "near Refugio". WTF is "Refugio"? The only "Refugio" Google finds in California is Refugio State Beach, but since this is from an SFGate article, I doubt it's down there. Perhaps the BGS in the picture has a clue, but it's too small to read. Or am I dumb or something?

[pderocco]

"San Mateo County Transportation Authority awarding $26.8M for pedestrian, bicycle and congestion relief projects" -- The description only mentions bicycle projects. When lanes are taken away from cars and given to bicycles, that may look like congestion relief to the cyclists, but not to the drivers.

[pderocco]

"Delta ferry suffers another major breakdown, leaving Ryer Island travelers only one option" -- does anything bigger than a private pleasure boat use the Steamboat Slough where 220 crosses it? If not, why don't they just build a bridge? Unlike the Sac River bridges, it could be a fixed span, and the channel can't be very deep.

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably cheaper to just perform constant maintenance on the aging ferry boats.  It isn't like either 220 or 84 get much traffic.

[pderocco]

"The Ongoing Saga of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Bike Lane" -- The Richmond Bridge is about 3.5 miles long. I once skated the I-205 bridge over the Columbia River, which is about 2 miles long, with a segregated bike lane down the middle. It was one very unpleasant experience, being right next to trucks, inhaling exhaust while exerting oneself, being subjected to the near deafening noise of the vehicles. It's not surprising that on a bridge that carries 80000 cars a day, only 120 people ride bikes over it. And unless a cyclist is worth a thousand motor vehicle riders, it seems like one hell of a subsidy for a few slightly dotty people.

[pderocco]

"Roadwork on Hwy 101 near Refugio Beach begins this month" -- Mystery solved. This writer knows how to write a basic news story.

"Caltrans Begins Bridge Overhaul on U.S. Route 101" -- The article says absolutely nothing about where this is. US-101 is over 750 miles long in California. It doesn't say whether what's being replaced is part of US-101 or something that crosses US-101. It says it's replacing "northbound and southbound" bridges, and that it will start with the "southern" bridge. If the bridges are "northbound and southbound" I would think one would be eastern and the other would be western. The article says this is "near Refugio". WTF is "Refugio"? The only "Refugio" Google finds in California is Refugio State Beach, but since this is from an SFGate article, I doubt it's down there. Perhaps the BGS in the picture has a clue, but it's too small to read. Or am I dumb or something?

[pderocco]

"December 2024  – 99 Alert – Santa Clarita" -- I'll miss these bridges. I used to work up there, and going over the railroad overpass was fun because it is the high point on the road, and it has no shoulders. But as quaint as it is, this really is a lousy pair of bridges by our standards. Since the only thing using the old railroad bed now is cyclists, they can lower it too, improving visibility.

I wonder if they'll get around to the Castaic Creek bridge a little further up. That I believe was just the SB side of US-99, and it's too skinny.