California

[cahwyguy]

I still don't understand how Orange County gets away with all of the expansions they are doing.

Probably because they were approved and in the process before the law. Typically, laws only impact approvals after the law takes effect.

[Plutonic Panda]

I still don't understand how Orange County gets away with all of the expansions they are doing.

Probably because they were approved and in the process before the law. Typically, laws only impact approvals after the law takes effect.

I don't see how state law will be able to stop them if their residents vote for another measure to widen their freeways. Are they just going to stop after this current round? And that seems like they have plans well into the 2030s.

[cahwyguy]

I still don't understand how Orange County gets away with all of the expansions they are doing.

Probably because they were approved and in the process before the law. Typically, laws only impact approvals after the law takes effect.

I don't see how state law will be able to stop them if their residents vote for another measure to widen their freeways. Are they just going to stop after this current round? And that seems like they have plans well into the 2030s.

The county can build what it wants with what the residents vote for. However, state law would apply if they want state funding (or state contributions). I'm not sure that, even with OCTA behind it, District 12 could widen if the CTC refused to approve things for funding. However, if it was funded ENTIRELY with local funding, it might be a different issue.

[roadman65]

https://www.aaroads.com/california/images001/ca-001_nb_lax_04.jpg

Noticing how LAX is the only airport I know of to use its airport code on guide signs leading to it.

IMO all airports should sign their roads leading to them as such.

Photo courtesy of AA Roads.

[SeriesE]

https://www.aaroads.com/california/images001/ca-001_nb_lax_04.jpg

Noticing how LAX is the only airport I know of to use its airport code on guide signs leading to it.

IMO all airports should sign their roads leading to them as such.

Photo courtesy of AA Roads.

Agreed! Making airports "known" to the public by airport code means less vanity naming pushes by politicians.

[pderocco]

Agreed! Making airports "known" to the public by airport code means less vanity naming pushes by politicians.

Yeah, I never liked Harry Reid very much, so hanging his name on a sign doesn't make Vegas's airport any more appealing.

It's interesting that Portland doesn't put PDX on their airport signs, yet Portlanders often refer to the entire city as PDX.

[Max Rockatansky]

CA 41 to reopen south of Lemoore to Kettleman City on 8/1.  There will apparently be a dedication ceremony for the new Kings River Bridge.

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/section-of-hwy-41-in-kings-county-to-open-after-6-month-closure/

[Max Rockatansky]

Another car goes off Devil's Slide on CA 1:

https://www.ktvu.com/news/2-dead-devils-slide-cliff-crash

[bing101]

Here is Interstatekyle touring CA-36. 

[gonealookin]

A two-week full closure of a stretch of US 395 between SR 108 and the town of Bridgeport in the Eastern Sierra is coming up in September.  The detour via Wellington, NV isn't a big deal for through traffic on US 395 from the Mono Lake area up toward Carson City, but it's rather inconveniently long for those coming east over Sonora Pass and wanting to go south on US 395.  The work is the installation of some big culverts under the highway for safe passage of wildlife.  The dates are the best available because they are after Labor Day weekend, before the weather turns colder and also before the September 21 opening of deer hunting season in the Bridgeport area, which is a big deal for the economy of that town.

https://twitter.com/Caltrans9/status/1820610864090894405 

[gonealookin]

The westernmost two miles or so of Interstate 80 in San Francisco, from the US 101 interchange to the start of the Bay Bridge, will henceforth be known and signed as the "Willie Mays Highway".

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of Interstate 80 between Postmile 3.836 and Postmile 5.700 in the City and County of San Francisco as the Willie Mays Highway; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs...

[cahwyguy]

The westernmost two miles or so of Interstate 80 in San Francisco, from the US 101 interchange to the start of the Bay Bridge, will henceforth be known and signed as the "Willie Mays Highway".

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of Interstate 80 between Postmile 3.836 and Postmile 5.700 in the City and County of San Francisco as the Willie Mays Highway; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs...

As of when I checked yesterday for the highway pages, it had been enrolled and sent to the governor, but not signed, yet.

[bing101]

The westernmost two miles or so of Interstate 80 in San Francisco, from the US 101 interchange to the start of the Bay Bridge, will henceforth be known and signed as the "Willie Mays Highway".

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of Interstate 80 between Postmile 3.836 and Postmile 5.700 in the City and County of San Francisco as the Willie Mays Highway; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs...

Its interesting to hear the James Lick Freeway to get a new name Willie Mays Highway. 

[cahwyguy]

The westernmost two miles or so of Interstate 80 in San Francisco, from the US 101 interchange to the start of the Bay Bridge, will henceforth be known and signed as the "Willie Mays Highway".

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the portion of Interstate 80 between Postmile 3.836 and Postmile 5.700 in the City and County of San Francisco as the Willie Mays Highway; and be it further

Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to determine the cost of appropriate signs, consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway system, showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs...

Its interesting to hear the James Lick Freeway to get a new name Willie Mays Highway.

They rarely revoke the old name, so it really has both names.

[ClassicHasClass]

They rarely revoke the old name, so it really has both names.

"Willie Lick, The Highway"

[heynow415]

A two-week full closure of a stretch of US 395 between SR 108 and the town of Bridgeport in the Eastern Sierra is coming up in September.  The detour via Wellington, NV isn't a big deal for through traffic on US 395 from the Mono Lake area up toward Carson City, but it's rather inconveniently long for those coming east over Sonora Pass and wanting to go south on US 395.  The work is the installation of some big culverts under the highway for safe passage of wildlife.  The dates are the best available because they are after Labor Day weekend, before the weather turns colder and also before the September 21 opening of deer hunting season in the Bridgeport area, which is a big deal for the economy of that town.

https://twitter.com/Caltrans9/status/1820610864090894405 

This is very unfortunate timing and a very long detour to get to 108/Sonora Pass.  When I first heard about this I was thinking since when would a full closure be needed for a shoulder project - what ever happened to one-way traffic control - but then found out about the scope of what's going on.  Of course, this is right during the time I'm with a group doing a Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows through hike on the PCT and so will need to do this detour twice (!).  On the plus side, after years of going back and forth on 395, I'll finally have the opportunity to clinch SR182 plus the ones in Nevada that I would likely never be on otherwise.

[Max Rockatansky]

182 is prettier north of Bridgeport than 395. 

[ClassicHasClass]

Think so? I like Devils Gate a lot.

[Max Rockatansky]

I've always liked the corridor of the Sweetwater Stage Road. 

[gonealookin]

I like the views of the Sonora Pass area and the mountains of northeast Yosemite National Park from the area of Sonora Junction, so I think I'll side with Classic over Max on that debate.  I drive south on US 395 past Bridgeport a few times a year, and occasionally I voluntarily do the detour through Wellington, NV for a little variety.  It's only a few miles more and under non-detour circumstances there's nearly zero traffic on NV 338 and CA 182.

I posted a couple photos a few years ago.  The detour route is permanently signed, and apparently the signs were contributed by Caltrans even though most of them are in Nevada, because they use Caltrans cutout US 395 shields.  Normally the signs are rotated to face away from the road.  Here's one of them, on NV 829 in the center of Wellington (2019 photo):



Besides construction closures, other reasons I've seen that segment of US 395 closed have been slides in the Walker River canyon, a big one of which must have been the reason for these permanent detour sign installations, and wildfires.  Snow can also impact that area, but if US 395 is closed for that reason it's usually because the part south of Bridgeport (Conway Summit between Bridgeport and Mono Lake) and the stretch passing Mammoth Lakes from south of Mono Lake down to the Sherwin Grade a few miles north of Bishop are impassable.

[cl94]

Yeah, 182/338 is generally more pleasant than 395 if there is any traffic, because the former is dead. Sure, it's a little longer, but I've been stuck behind enough idiots on 395 going well below the speed limit. Also isn't an ag station on 182.

The permanent detour is for slides and flooding. Walker Canyon is prone to both in winter. I'm curious if they're using those signs during this closure, but not curious enough to detour that much out of my way to check.

[gonealookin]

This is very unfortunate timing and a very long detour to get to 108/Sonora Pass.  When I first heard about this I was thinking since when would a full closure be needed for a shoulder project - what ever happened to one-way traffic control - but then found out about the scope of what's going on.  Of course, this is right during the time I'm with a group doing a Sonora Pass to Tuolumne Meadows through hike on the PCT and so will need to do this detour twice (!).  On the plus side, after years of going back and forth on 395, I'll finally have the opportunity to clinch SR182 plus the ones in Nevada that I would likely never be on otherwise.

Here's today's tweet from District 9.  Obviously they have dug up the entire roadway.  They lose the route entirely for a couple weeks, but it's logically quicker to do it this way than with one-way traffic control and cheaper than perhaps bulldozing a temporary detour.

https://twitter.com/Caltrans9/status/1831723845612662977

[roadfro]

Yeah, 182/338 is generally more pleasant than 395 if there is any traffic, because the former is dead. Sure, it's a little longer, but I've been stuck behind enough idiots on 395 going well below the speed limit. Also isn't an ag station on 182.

My last trip down to Vegas in June, I went this way along NV 338 & CA 182 as part of the journey (I was clinching these routes as well as NV 264 & CA/NV 266). We can debate the scenic merits of 338/182 vs US 395, but I was quite pleased with the lack of traffic and fewer speed zones along the former.

[bing101]

They rarely revoke the old name, so it really has both names.

"Willie Lick, The Highway"

 
https://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=James_Lick:_Filthy_Bum_Turns_Filthy_Rich

Here is the origins on the James Lick name.

[Dantheroadfan]

I was wondering how so many people are supposedly leaving ca and traffic seems to be getting worse? It took us an hour to get halfway across Fresno last Wednesday. I also noticed that McKinley ave on and off-ramp was closed recently in Fresno to be slightly moved for the high speed rail. I am a fan of the high speed rail however let's be real they've been working on it for 20 years it seems why even bother it's never gonna get done in my opinion. It's because the high speed rail will eliminate the need for Amtrak which is run by the government what are your thoughts on the high speed rail.