California

[cl94]

Even then you aren't likely to see an RV due to that 24% grade just east of Pacific Grade Summit.  The rest of the descent really isn't all that steep.  The roadway is definitely wide enough that two passenger vehicles can pass each other at any time.

Couple places it's a little tight, but yes. Nowhere that is truly one lane like you might find elsewhere in the state. It's just not that gnarly of a road apart from the hairpins and unguarded drops, but those hairpins are enough to stop longer vehicles.

On that note, Caltrans officially called it quits on the seasonal passes today. Ebbetts and Sonora have been in "storm closure" since November 29, Monitor has been in storm closure since December 27.

[Max Rockatansky]

None of the one lane portions on any California State Highway is true single lane (even dirt 173).  All of them are 12-15 feet wide and probably were at one point considered adequate for dual carriageways. 

[Alps]

None of the one lane portions on any California State Highway is true single lane (even dirt 173).  All of them are 12-15 feet wide and probably were at one point considered adequate for dual carriageways. 

12-15 feet wide is single lane. 16 is the minimum to consider 2-way.

[Max Rockatansky]

None of the one lane portions on any California State Highway is true single lane (even dirt 173).  All of them are 12-15 feet wide and probably were at one point considered adequate for dual carriageways. 

12-15 feet wide is single lane. 16 is the minimum to consider 2-way.

Right, but when a lot of these roads were constructed 12 feet was considered two-lane.  12 foot roads were pretty much the standard through the 1st-3rd state highway bond act eras.  It wasn't really until the late 1920s that state highways began to be widened to modern two lane standards. 

The one lane state highways definitely aren't up to modern standards, but they are also very generous by one lane standards.  Compared to something like Wards Ferry Road even the likes of CA 4 near Ebbetts Pass is comfortably wide.

[kkt]

Once the switchbacks, the grade, and the warning signs get rid of the trucks and RVs, the cars should have no problems as long as they drive carefully.

[DTComposer]

The CA-25/CA-156 roundabout fully opened last month:
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/gilroy-california-turbo-roundabout-18585736.php

No photos/street view available yet, but I'll be down that way over the weekend and will check it out.

[Max Rockatansky]

I drove through it two weeks ago when it was partially opened during a heavy rain shower.  It wasn't exactly great but it did ultimately save some time over the old traffic light.

[cl94]

The current storm brings the first bidirectional I-80 closure of the season, as well as the first low to mid-elevation chain controls. As I write this, 80 is closed between Alta and Verdi due to people crashing. Maybe we can finally start to build a snowpack up here in the Sierra...

[roadfro]

The CA-25/CA-156 roundabout fully opened last month:
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/gilroy-california-turbo-roundabout-18585736.php

No photos/street view available yet, but I'll be down that way over the weekend and will check it out.

I just come across another article about this roundabout and was going to share here.
New 'turbo roundabout' south of San Jose is only the second of its kind in the U.S. – Mercury News (via MSN)

I'd heard the term "turbo roundabout" before, but those previous mentions were simply the spiral design (guiding inner lanes outward) designed with paint stripes. This, and the first example cited in the article, delineate the spiral movement channelization with raised concrete medians (although the medians are very minimally raised, likely to accommodate large vehicle movements), which is a unique application.

I gotta say it's an interesting approach that hopefully works. I've thought a few multi-lane roundabouts near me could benefit from using either double solid lines or "painted medians" within the circulatory roadway to better encourage drivers to not change lanes in the middle—this treatment is even better guidance in that regard.

[Quillz]

Looks like 33 is closed again. I was planning on driving it today.

[bing101]

Here is a cool drive by 101not5 from Irvine to Riverside.

[roadman65]

Does anyone know why Caltrans District 12 is only Orange County? 

https://cwwp2.dot.ca.gov/documentation/district-map-county-chart.htm

Considering Los Angeles County is the most populous in the entire state exceeding the 10 million mark, it is part of District 7 with Ventura County.

It seems odd that they would assign an entire district to one county with other larger counties being paired with others.

[Max Rockatansky]

Orange County felt that District 7 was favoring the other counties over them.  They asked for a change and got their own District.

[mrsman]

Also very likely that Caltrans did not want to have noncontiguous districts.  The old Dist 7 was LA, Ventura, Orange.  LA is by far the biggest, but if LA were separated into its own district, Ventura and Orange would not be contiguous with each other.  And governmentally, a split is easier than a full rearranging (like adding OC into Dist. 8 (SB/Riv) or Dist. 11 (SD/Imperial)).

[roadman65]

I also see that San Diego and Imperial Counties are District 11. 


Being District 10 is around the Stockton Area Counties, and pretty much the districts with numbers lower than 10 are arranged in a counterclockwise manor from south of D4, I'm to assume that SD/ Imperial were once part of D8 hence the number 11.

[Max Rockatansky]

I also see that San Diego and Imperial Counties are District 11. 


Being District 10 is around the Stockton Area Counties, and pretty much the districts with numbers lower than 10 are arranged in a counterclockwise manor from south of D4, I'm to assume that SD/ Imperial were once part of D8 hence the number 11.

Created 1933 when Division of Highways District 7 was broken up:

https://sandiegohistory.org/journal/2016/january/history-caltrans-district-11/#:~:text=The%20eleventh%20district%20of%20the%20California%20Division%20of,Riverside%20County%20was%20placed%20under%20District%208.%2013

[Chris]

I'd heard the term "turbo roundabout" before, but those previous mentions were simply the spiral design (guiding inner lanes outward) designed with paint stripes. This, and the first example cited in the article, delineate the spiral movement channelization with raised concrete medians (although the medians are very minimally raised, likely to accommodate large vehicle movements), which is a unique application.

I gotta say it's an interesting approach that hopefully works. I've thought a few multi-lane roundabouts near me could benefit from using either double solid lines or "painted medians" within the circulatory roadway to better encourage drivers to not change lanes in the middle—this treatment is even better guidance in that regard.

The 'turbo roundabout' was first designed in the Netherlands and has seen widespread implementation over the past 20 years, both on two-lane roads as well as on four lane corridors.

The idea of turbo roundabouts is that you stay in your lane while driving through, so you have to pick the correct lane before entering the roundabout. Good signage is essential. The turbo roundabout has a more efficient usage of capacity than traditional multilane roundabouts. However a downside is that you cannot do U-turns on them unless you drive over the raised lane separation.

In the Netherlands the raised lane separation is only like 1.5 - 2 inches high on an A-profile, so trucks can drive over them. The apron of the roundabout is also made out of concrete so they can help large trucks navigate the roundabout. The apron is raised slightly to prevent people going straight over them at 30 mph.

This was the most recent photo I could find of the project, the roundabout is open, but not yet completed.



Here's an example of a similar one in the Netherlands:

[pderocco]

The idea of turbo roundabouts is that you stay in your lane while driving through, so you have to pick the correct lane before entering the roundabout. Good signage is essential. The turbo roundabout has a more efficient usage of capacity than traditional multilane roundabouts. However a downside is that you cannot do U-turns on them unless you drive over the raised lane separation.

Looks like the ratchet mechanism on the end of a window shade spool.

The problem is that there are two lanes to choose from, but three places to exit. So you may have to make two decisions.

Another problem with roundabouts that I certainly feel, but have never heard mentioned, is that as you go around the circle, it's easy to lose your sense of direction. Especially on a large roundabout with more than four roads, the difference between 135 degrees and 180 degrees is difficult to feel:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/YmpnHLPHjcMsZzXr9

[Plutonic Panda]

I just drove from Hollywood to Midway city via the 101 to the 5 to the 605 and the 405 to Bolsa and back home I took the 405 to Sunset all the way and for the most part it was flowing at or slightly below speed limits with many time the inner lanes flowing at 80-85 MPH. This was from the hours of 2pm-7pm roughly on a Tuesday during rush hour. The trip back from the 405 heading NB towards sunset from Orange County was almost completely free flowing with no backups except for the SB traffic had more backups but still have several spots where traffic was flowing freely.

Orange County with the exception of I-605 NB all had completely free flowing conditions with zero traffic congestion just heavy traffic. Wider roads do help traffic. Induced demand is bullshit. I see these scenarios play out time and time again just I don't post about because of mental exhaustion. Orange County builds much wider roads and the 405 has definitely improved since its widening. The next step will be to build mass transit but fuck the "just one more lane bro" commenters because their reasoning is malarkey.

As soon as you get into LA where the road narrows and you see less lanes more traffic backs up. Yes I know there are more people but there are also many more mass/active transit options. I just wanted to point this out. There are logical freeway options and if LA Metro could find a way to make the 405 like the 635 in Dallas with removing the HOV lane and adding a below grade 3x3 tolled express segment from the OC line to the 101 whilst redoing the 101 and I-10 interchanges, removing bottleneck/lane drops creating consistencies in the number of lanes, along with building a subway from Van Nuys to the UCLA/purple line and to the airport, along with widening/modifying Sepulveda in certain spots to create a continuous bus lane at peak hours and a bike/sidewalk(which believe it or not those don't even exist in certain spots through the Sepulveda pass), this would alleviate(NOT SOLVE) traffic congestion ten fold for decades to come.

But nooooooo let's look at tolling freeways instead.

PS, my proposal for this corridor is actually something that needs serious consideration unlike my fantasy for a 40 mile undersea tunnel for I-10. This is something that could actually be done and with little property acquisition.

With all that said, traffic moving as fast as it did even with backups in a megalopolis of 20+ million during peak hours with little backups is pretty fucking impressive. Imagine if these roads were only 2-3 lanes each way. Imagine if we uproar like these loons in Portland mad about widening roads to 3x3 or adding auxiliary lanes. Well, actually we're getting that here.

Point is there's logical freeway expansions. The I-405 country express lanes added two new through lanes each way plus aux lanes and correcting deficiencies as well as addressing overpasses/adding pedestrian overpasses for local connection improvements. All of them added bike lanes as well as new car lanes. For the freeway one of the lanes was a free to use GP lane and a conversion of an HOV lane to a toll lane with an added toll lane. It worked.

[Plutonic Panda]

California has launched a new website to track and show off developments as part as a new massive infrastructure investment across the state: https://build.ca.gov/

[RZF]

I just drove from Hollywood to Midway city via the 101 to the 5 to the 605 and the 405 to Bolsa and back home I took the 405 to Sunset all the way and for the most part it was flowing at or slightly below speed limits with many time the inner lanes flowing at 80-85 MPH. This was from the hours of 2pm-7pm roughly on a Tuesday during rush hour. The trip back from the 405 heading NB towards sunset from Orange County was almost completely free flowing with no backups except for the SB traffic had more backups but still have several spots where traffic was flowing freely.

Orange County with the exception of I-605 NB all had completely free flowing conditions with zero traffic congestion just heavy traffic. Wider roads do help traffic. Induced demand is bullshit. I see these scenarios play out time and time again just I don't post about because of mental exhaustion. Orange County builds much wider roads and the 405 has definitely improved since its widening. The next step will be to build mass transit but fuck the "just one more lane bro" commenters because their reasoning is malarkey.

As soon as you get into LA where the road narrows and you see less lanes more traffic backs up. Yes I know there are more people but there are also many more mass/active transit options. I just wanted to point this out. There are logical freeway options and if LA Metro could find a way to make the 405 like the 635 in Dallas with removing the HOV lane and adding a below grade 3x3 tolled express segment from the OC line to the 101 whilst redoing the 101 and I-10 interchanges, removing bottleneck/lane drops creating consistencies in the number of lanes, along with building a subway from Van Nuys to the UCLA/purple line and to the airport, along with widening/modifying Sepulveda in certain spots to create a continuous bus lane at peak hours and a bike/sidewalk(which believe it or not those don't even exist in certain spots through the Sepulveda pass), this would alleviate(NOT SOLVE) traffic congestion ten fold for decades to come.

But nooooooo let's look at tolling freeways instead.

PS, my proposal for this corridor is actually something that needs serious consideration unlike my fantasy for a 40 mile undersea tunnel for I-10. This is something that could actually be done and with little property acquisition.

With all that said, traffic moving as fast as it did even with backups in a megalopolis of 20+ million during peak hours with little backups is pretty fucking impressive. Imagine if these roads were only 2-3 lanes each way. Imagine if we uproar like these loons in Portland mad about widening roads to 3x3 or adding auxiliary lanes. Well, actually we're getting that here.

Point is there's logical freeway expansions. The I-405 country express lanes added two new through lanes each way plus aux lanes and correcting deficiencies as well as addressing overpasses/adding pedestrian overpasses for local connection improvements. All of them added bike lanes as well as new car lanes. For the freeway one of the lanes was a free to use GP lane and a conversion of an HOV lane to a toll lane with an added toll lane. It worked.

You do have a point in that LA traffic, as bad of a rap as it gets, is very "predictable". Sure, there's traffic as long as most people are awake, but I'd argue that the traffic spots are very localized and occur only at certain times a day on certain days a week. I'm aware that I-405 is always backed up from CA 90 to Wilshire-ish, and then slow to US-101 most hours of the day. Same with I-210 East from Pasadena to CA 57. Same with US 101 in Oxnard and Camarillo from 2-6pm weekdays. You always know where traffic slows and where it picks up. So, agencies should focus on the bottlenecks. Is I-405 in OC really that bad that it needs express lanes? Sure, it's D12, they're basically doing their own thing, but it is odd that some bottlenecks are not being addressed.

[Voyager]

California has launched a new website to track and show off developments as part as a new massive infrastructure investment across the state: https://build.ca.gov/

It's blank for me.

[Plutonic Panda]

California has launched a new website to track and show off developments as part as a new massive infrastructure investment across the state: https://build.ca.gov/

It's blank for me.

Yeah I was hoping for meaningful infrastructure projects and instead I get environmental restoration projects with no further information.

[roadman65]

I'm noticing that Caltrans signs Santa Ana as control city opposite Sacramento for I-5 in Los Angeles.  Considering the former is a distant suburb and the latter is the next major city away from Greater LA, the engineers in both Districts 7 and 12 who agreed on Santa Ana for the SB control are way off their rockers as much as Colorado in Denver pairing Grand Junction to Limon.

[Max Rockatansky]

Santa Ana is the Orange County seat.  The freeway is also called the "Santa Ana Freeway."  While I'd agree that Santa Ana is kind of anonymous by modern suburban infill historically the community has been very much a very different thing than Los Angeles.  Either way, I see no issue with using any county seat as a control city.