Headlines About California Highways – April 2025

[cahwyguy]

The first of May. You know what that means: In addition to Morris Dancing and Queens singing, it means headlines about California's Highways for April.

Here's the link to the Headline Post: https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17206

Ready, set, discuss (and please, do better than last month -- not a single comment on the headline post)

[Max Rockatansky]

Heh, Caltrans D2 really referenced Route 99E on Facebook.  I guess the vestige of US 99 W and E isn't quite dead after all.

[ClassicHasClass]

I remember when S1 didn't have guardrails on the Sunrise Hwy. That was harrowing, yet Dad loved to go up to Mt Laguna, so we drove it a lot.

[Quillz]

Caltrans District 1 and Caltrans District 2 are asking the community for input as they are working on a plan to improve evacuation preparedness on Routes 96 and 169. They say it's crucial for wildfire safety and climate resilience. This proposed project will focus on vegetation management, erosion control, rockfall mitigation, and enhanced traffic systems. Such as electronic signage and emergency communication devices, to better protect us from extreme weather and wildfires.

I saw this and got really excited, are they finally going to close the 169 gap? No... Although, having recently driven CA-96, it's very narrow between Willow Creek and CA-169. Any improvements (if possible) should focus there. I found the remainder of the route adequate enough.

Caltrans to unveil plans for PCH improvements in Malibu (MSN/KNX 1070). On Wednesday night, Malibu residents will get a chance tonight to look at draft master plans for improvements along 21 miles of Pacific Coast Highway. The planned changes would impact a stretch of PCH from the Ventura County line to the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica. The goal is to create what Caltrans calls a "complete street" with enhanced safety and mobility for all road users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit riders.

To me, the single biggest improvement is more police officers. Ticketing the people that like to drive nearly 100 mph on PCH would help with safety a lot.

[Quillz]

When a turbo roundabout rolled into the southernmost corner of the Bay Area early last year, it became the first-in-the-state adoption of a successful Dutch traffic innovation — a multi-lane roundabout shaped like a cartoon hurricane. And while the roundabout in San Benito County, far south of San Jose, was meant to improve safety, it brought with it a wave of confusion and a spike in accidents that saw drivers colliding at rates many times higher than before it was installed. Wayne Wallace has witnessed the chaos. On his commutes between Hollister and San Jose, he has watched crashes unfold in front of him and seen drivers heading the wrong way, hopping over dividers, and he even claims to have spotted some cars catching air.

I would chalk a lot of this up to "it's something new." It will fix itself in time. My neighborhood had some stop signs installed recently and they keep getting ignored, less likely out of dislike and more "it's new, I haven't noticed it yet." Not to mention anecdotal evidence is something, but a more proper study will be needed to really determine if there's something wrong, or it's just people adjusting (which is far more likely). (Not to mention just plain sounds like some awful drivers ignoring lane markings).

Not to mention a lot of articles just seem to have a slight anti-roundabout bias.

[SeriesE]

I've driven that I-5 segment being widened in Orange County. The existing lanes are as bouncy as ever. They didn't bother redoing the old lanes just like what happened with the I-405 widening in OC.

[DTComposer]

• I've driven the turbo roundabout a couple of times now - I can't imagine the increased crash rates being anything more than drivers being unaware of the new design and/or stupid. I would be curious to see over time if there is an increase in crashes, but a reduction in injuries/fatalities.

• My parents' 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon had one of the earliest plates in the current sequence (1DSG and some numbers I don't remember), so it took about 35 years to get through this, or just under four years per leading number. Given the increase in population/cars, we could expect the new sequence to last until the early 2050s?

[pderocco]

My parents' 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon had one of the earliest plates in the current sequence (1DSG and some numbers I don't remember), so it took about 35 years to get through this, or just under four years per leading number. Given the increase in population/cars, we could expect the new sequence to last until the early 2050s?

That's 45, not 35. But given California's obsession with reducing VMT and pushing us onto public transit, maybe it'll last to 2100.

[Quillz]

My parents' 1981 Volkswagen Vanagon had one of the earliest plates in the current sequence (1DSG and some numbers I don't remember), so it took about 35 years to get through this, or just under four years per leading number. Given the increase in population/cars, we could expect the new sequence to last until the early 2050s?

That's 45, not 35. But given California's obsession with reducing VMT and pushing us onto public transit, maybe it'll last to 2100.

Good. I hope so.