🚘 Headlines About California Highways – June 2026

[cahwyguy]

A new month. That means a new set of headlines to discuss. Folks here should find at least a few articles of interest to chew upon.

Here's the link to the headline post: https://cahighways.org/wordpress/?p=17788

Ready, set, discuss.

[Max Rockatansky]

"Beloved transit columnist" is quite the boastful title.

[ClassicHasClass]

I'm a beloved forum poster.

[SeriesE]

There's a new housing development popping up in the northeast corner of the 99/120 interchange. That's going to be an issue if the state were to build a direct 120 E to 99 N ramp in the future.

I don't think I've ever seen Streetsblog or Urbanize say anything positive about road projects.

I-5/CA-78 interchange area could be improved a lot by removing the Cassidy St exit. The comment period is over by the time the page was linked here haha.

[Max Rockatansky]

There's a new housing development popping up in the northeast corner of the 99/120 interchange. That's going to be an issue if the state were to build a direct 120 E to 99 N ramp in the future.

I don't think I've ever seen Streetsblog or Urbanize say anything positive about road projects.

I-5/CA-78 interchange area could be improved a lot by removing the Cassidy St exit. The comment period is over by the time the page was linked here haha.

Trouble weighs heavily upon the brow of those most beloved. 

[Max Rockatansky]

Those behaviors listed on Ventura Boulevard seem far more "aggressive" versus "passive."  I'm trying to think of some actual criteria through which a "passive-aggressive" road could be defined?

I said it already in the California thread but I'm not seeing why Fresno would need HOV lanes.  The traffic levels really don't justify it on any of the freeways and probably won't anytime soon.  Presently the only HOV lanes in the city exist on some freeway on-ramps. 

All this Big Sur/Bixby Creek Bridge IMO is overblown.  The bridge has always had issues with people legally parking by it.  Closing off parking probably is just going to lead to tourists stopping in the middle of the travel lanes of 1.  As an aside, apparently the reason Old Coast Road is blocked off is due to slide repairs that have been awaiting funding since 2018. 

Long term the four-lane expressway on the Madera County portion of 41 ought to be extended to 145 if not through Rocky Cut to Road 200.  The Rocky Cut segment (constructed in 1939) is particularly crash prone and has a huge commuter rush issue.  Road 211 can be used to get around Rocky Cut fortunately.  My wife had to use the Road 211 detour often when she worked in Oakhurst.

Alternative 2B fortunately isn't some generic monstrosity that I feared would replace the Albion River Bridge on 1/Shoreline Highway.  It isn't exactly "a looker" but there were worse alternative designs.

Kind of interesting Pismo Beach and Solvang want portions of state highway relinquished to them (1 and 246).  IMO Caltrans does a pretty decent job managing pedestrian congestion in both cities during big events.  I'm not sure if either of them is large enough to really effectively change much without state aid.



 

[cahwyguy]

Kind of interesting Pismo Beach and Solvang want portions of state highway relinquished to them (1 and 246).  IMO Caltrans does a pretty decent job managing pedestrian congestion in both cities during big events.  I'm not sure if either of them is large enough to really effectively change much without state aid.

In both cases, I think it is because the city wants to be able to do stuff without having to deal with state permits or permission.

[SeriesE]

"Beloved transit columnist" is quite the boastful title.

That article looked like it's written (or at least formatted) by AI/LLM. 

[FredAkbar]

Both sides of the 580 truck debate use such annoying slop arguments that it's hard to root for either side.

revoking the ban is being considered because trucking on other Oakland freeways has negatively affected the health of the mainly low-income, mostly Black, brown, and Asian communities they pass through.

She asked Caltrans to consider "the  terror of your student driver getting out on the freeway every day to get to school, all of them along the 580, those new student drivers are already so much at risk,"

No matter which side you support, it's easy to come up with some sympathy-deserving demographic that would be harmed by the alternative.

[Max Rockatansky]

Both sides of the 580 truck debate use such annoying slop arguments that it's hard to root for either side.

revoking the ban is being considered because trucking on other Oakland freeways has negatively affected the health of the mainly low-income, mostly Black, brown, and Asian communities they pass through.

She asked Caltrans to consider "the  terror of your student driver getting out on the freeway every day to get to school, all of them along the 580, those new student drivers are already so much at risk,"

No matter which side you support, it's easy to come up with some sympathy-deserving demographic that would be harmed by the alternative.

Shit, I was going to take my niece to drive the Tollhouse Grade if she passed her learner's permit test yesterday.  She ended up missing it by two wrong answers on her first attempt.

[pderocco]

I don't know much about Interstate highway law, but I'm rather surprised there isn't a requirement that Interstates allow trucks. I recall reading that that's the case with US routes, and why US-1 south of Boston was rerouted from various parkways to I-93 when trucks were banned from them, but that may be apocryphal.

[M3100]

Good to see the Annenberg Wildlife Bridge making additional progress.