🚘 Headlines About California Highways – April 2026

[cahwyguy]

A new month, and that means highway headlines for the old month. The good news is that I worked with Westhost and we fixed the "Verifying you are human" problem that impeded linking. So here are your headlines. Ready, set, discuss.

Here are the headlines: https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17594

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm sure glad I got photos of the Lions Bridge when I had the chance.  That was a very unique span but it was being beat to shit.  I'm surprised it was even open which how low of a weight rating it had at the end.

[FredAkbar]

Is the I-15 expansion "project", or anything done by the Rebuild SoCal Partnership, real? The link is just a simple image (a rudimentary map of I-15) on that organization's FB page, and the corresponding website seems more like an online campaign than an actual project. It even has the stretches of traffic congestion cleverly disguised to look like the "Phase 1", "Phase 2" etc that you see on actual county-run project pages.

[pderocco]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

[Max Rockatansky]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

I last encountered pumps like that at Big Bend National Park in early 2013.  There was a paper sign by the pumps which said that you paid doubled what the pump indicated. 

[stevashe]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

That would only work with modern pumps if they directed everyone to pay at the register. At the pump, the transaction is processed automatically so there's likely no way to make it charge double (same as there's no way to go above $10/gal).

[pderocco]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

That would only work with modern pumps if they directed everyone to pay at the register. At the pump, the transaction is processed automatically so there's likely no way to make it charge double (same as there's no way to go above $10/gal).

Of course, but if it's that or lose money on every sale...

[Plutonic Panda]

Joe Linton, man every time I read what apparently streetsblog passes off as a news article from that guy I just prepare myself for the comedic bullshit. I'm about to see. It never fails. The big bad 6605 widening is back to destroy the planet and its environment. And it's gonna take everybody's homes. And all Metro does is widen highways and cater to car drivers and nobody else. Ugh.

[pderocco]

Joe Linton, man every time I read what apparently streetsblog passes off as a news article from that guy I just prepare myself for the comedic bullshit. I'm about to see. It never fails. The big bad 6605 widening is back to destroy the planet and its environment. And it's gonna take everybody's homes. And all Metro does is widen highways and cater to car drivers and nobody else. Ugh.

How many people are actually not car drivers? Outside of New York City, they're a pretty small minority.

[Plutonic Panda]

Joe Linton, man every time I read what apparently streetsblog passes off as a news article from that guy I just prepare myself for the comedic bullshit. I'm about to see. It never fails. The big bad 6605 widening is back to destroy the planet and its environment. And it's gonna take everybody's homes. And all Metro does is widen highways and cater to car drivers and nobody else. Ugh.

How many people are actually not car drivers? Outside of New York City, they're a pretty small minority.

I don't know, man this is a while ago, but I think it was in that sent me a pretty nasty email one time and then I know he blocked me on the street blog Los Angeles commenting section because I called someone anti-Car nut as they've said some pretty bad stuff to me just for making points about induced demand. Fuck that guy.

[Max Rockatansky]

Urbanists are pretty easy to ignore.  The rest of the world does, we as a hobby should too.

[pderocco]

Urbanists are pretty easy to ignore.  The rest of the world does, we as a hobby should too.

In some states, they have significant influence on government policy. You can't ignore that.

[Max Rockatansky]

Urbanists are pretty easy to ignore.  The rest of the world does, we as a hobby should too.

In some states, they have significant influence on government policy. You can't ignore that.

Some, but outside of San Francisco and some other highly urbanized places in California their influence is minimal.  Complete Streets is probably the closest thing they have on a state level that had some of their influence in it. 

[SeriesE]

For the I-605 project, I have sent in my support for the alternative with 12-ft lanes during the public hearing meeting a while ago.

[Tendies]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

That would only work with modern pumps if they directed everyone to pay at the register. At the pump, the transaction is processed automatically so there's likely no way to make it charge double (same as there's no way to go above $10/gal).

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c? Almost every gas pump nowadays is digital, so at least in theory, if the pump has 4 digits of precision, it shouldnt be impossible for Gilbarco to push a software update unlocking the pump and allowing prices up to $99.99/g.

[SeriesE]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

That would only work with modern pumps if they directed everyone to pay at the register. At the pump, the transaction is processed automatically so there's likely no way to make it charge double (same as there's no way to go above $10/gal).

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c? Almost every gas pump nowadays is digital, so at least in theory, if the pump has 4 digits of precision, it shouldnt be impossible for Gilbarco to push a software update unlocking the pump and allowing prices up to $99.99/g.

That's assuming that the pump makers had the foresight to put placeholder decimal points between all digits instead of only between the first and the second digits.

[Plutonic Panda]

I'm sorry but can this easily be solved by someone reinventing the system? Maybe I don't understand how gas station pumps work but I'd think it shouldn't take an act of congress to fix.

[oscar]

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c?

More likely gas stations would just round up any prices ending in 9/10c.

[pderocco]

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c?

More likely gas stations would just round up any prices ending in 9/10c.

If it came to that, gas prices would still always end with a 9, so it would increment in 10cent steps: 10.09 to 10.19 to 10.29, etc.

[oscar]

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c?

More likely gas stations would just round up any prices ending in 9/10c.

If it came to that, gas prices would still always end with a 9, so it would increment in 10cent steps: 10.09 to 10.19 to 10.29, etc.

No. If a station had charged 9.999/gal, and insisted on at least a tiny price increase while still charging a four-digit price, the new price would be 10.00. Increments from there would be 10.01, 10.02, etc.

[Tendies]

Don't tell Leo Flores, owner of Gorda by the Sea, that in the 70s when the Arab oil embargo first pushed gas prices above a dollar, gas stations set the pumps for half the price and everyone paid twice as much.

That would only work with modern pumps if they directed everyone to pay at the register. At the pump, the transaction is processed automatically so there's likely no way to make it charge double (same as there's no way to go above $10/gal).

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c? Almost every gas pump nowadays is digital, so at least in theory, if the pump has 4 digits of precision, it shouldnt be impossible for Gilbarco to push a software update unlocking the pump and allowing prices up to $99.99/g.

That's assuming that the pump makers had the foresight to put placeholder decimal points between all digits instead of only between the first and the second digits.

The same brand of pumps are used worldwide, and there are presumably currencies out there that charge such that the decimal place is not between the first and second digits. Cant imagine they waste time shipping different models with decimals hardcoded at different positions.

Is it not possible to simply move the decimal point one place to the right and forego the 9/10c?

More likely gas stations would just round up any prices ending in 9/10c.

If it came to that, gas prices would still always end with a 9, so it would increment in 10cent steps: 10.09 to 10.19 to 10.29, etc.

No. If a station had charged 9.999/gal, and insisted on at least a tiny price increase while still charging a four-digit price, the new price would be 10.00. Increments from there would be 10.01, 10.02, etc.

Most likely it will be $10.09, $10.19, etc because of the 9 cent effect in retail. $10.09 is more appealing than $10.10, for example. Basically just status quo minus the 9/10c. Even now, most people dont even acknowledge the 9/10c of a cent on the sign. Speaking of, most signs have the 9/10 hard fixed, so they cant change it even if they wanted to. Though I have once pumped gas where the price rang up to 3.xx8, with an 8/10c decimal.