🛣 Headlines About California Highways – May 2023

As we pass from May into June, I’d welcome you to the June Gloom, but it came early. As I write this, I’ve been busily working to get the March and April (and now May) updates to the Highway Pages done. They are closer — I just finished going through the March and May CTC minutes. This weekend I’ll process these headlines, and the updates should be good to go

The first season of the podcast is winding down. We have one episode left to record, and then I’ll take a couple of months off to start writing Season 2, when we will actually start going route by route through the state highways. Season 2 will have 10 episodes on Route 1, and two on Route 2. Hopefully, the sound quality is getting a bit better. I’m learning as I go on, and I think on some I overprocessed and overcompensated for breaths, creaks, and other bumps (uh) in the night. Our sample episode has crossed 105 listens, but many are still falling short. Visit our Spotify for Podcast episodes page, our main podcast site, or use your favorite podcasting app to catch up on our back episodes. We have a 6-part series on the history of the state highway system, and a 4-part series on highway numbering.

What else? We’re back to attending theatre regularly, although I haven’t started writing reviews again. Although we’re not going to be able to make it this year, if you’re near Hollywood in June, I encourage you to go down to old US 66 and attend the Hollywood Fringe Festival. There should be at least one show of interest out of the hundreds of shows being presented.

OK. You should be caught up now. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for May:

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor.]

California Highways: Route by Route Podcast

• CARxR 1.11: Highway Naming. In our penultimate episode of the season, we explore highways and their names. Tom and Daniel discuss how highways got their names in the past, as well as how highways are named today through the legislature. You’ll see a discussion of historical names, destination-based names, and memorial names. We’ll also explore auto trail names, as well as some of the more notorious names that highways have been given. Lastly, listen until after the end credits for a discussion about an aspect of naming that people often forget. (38:01)

Back episodes are available at the Podcast’s forever home, as well as on its Spotify for Podcasters home. The Spotify (nee Anchor.FM) link also has links to the podcast’s page on most major podcasting services.

Highway Headlines

• City meeting with Caltrans director inspired optimism about truck climbing lanes project (Tehachapi News). The most optimistic news reported at Monday night’s City Council meeting came from Councilman Phil Smith. During the council comments portion at the end of the meeting, Smith shared news of a recent meeting he and city staff had with the new director of Caltrans about the proposed truck climbing lane for Highway 58. Caltrans recently released environmental reports related to the project, and another Highway 58 project west of Tehachapi — the Keene Pavement Project — is even further along in the planning process. But funding the projects once the planning and design are complete remains an obstacle.
• ＄Last piece of remade Bay Bridge expands access to Yerba Buena, Treasure Island (Napa Valley Register). The last piece of the massive Bay Bridge reconstruction will open Sunday, almost 10 years after the main span bearing Interstate 80 began carrying traffic. The new eastbound off-ramp to Yerba Buena Island will increase access to Treasure Island, where San Francisco officials hope to develop thousands of new homes, retail and commercial space, and hotel rooms. City plans have touted Treasure Island as San Francisco’s newest emerging neighborhood. “It’s a much better connection to the island,” said Bart Ney, a spokesman for Caltrans. “There’s all kinds of development.”
• ＄American Canyon says annexation might ease Highway 29 traffic (Napa Valley Register). American Canyon officials want to annex 83 acres and develop a portion with industry and businesses and — if all goes as described — a road extension that takes some traffic off busy Highway 29. The city is working on an environmental impact report for its proposed Paoli/Watson Lane annexation. This land is east of Highway 29 near Paoli Loop Road. What might seem to be an American Canyon-centric issue could have ramifications for anyone driving in the south county. The proposed annexation would allow a Newell Drive extension to connect with the highway. “The city intends to extend Newell Drive as a parallel roadway to (Highway) 29 to relieve traffic congestion,” the draft environmental impact report said. How much relief is unclear, though an extended Newell Drive would handle more than existing traffic in this fast-growing area. Nearby Watson Ranch is planned to someday host more than 1,000 homes.
• ＄Caltrans work will partially or fully close Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro (Daily News). Most, if not all, of the Vincent Thomas Bridge could close for one to two years beginning around 2025 so the nearly 60-year-old San Pedro span can get a new roadbed for the first time since it was built. Details on the California Department of Transportation project, estimated to cost $628.5 million, are just now rolling out — with the news coming as a surprise to many of those who will be heavily impacted. Caltrans will host a virtual meeting, as part of an extensive state and federal scoping process for the project, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 4. Work is anticipated to take place from 2025 to 2027. Replacing the roadway, Caltrans officials say, is necessary to maintain the bridge, which turns 60 in November, into the future. The road in both directions has been damaged over time by saltwater, moisture and heavy use.
• Plan to add toll to Highway 37 for safety funding faces opposition (CBS San Francisco). Between flooding during King Tides and everyday commute congestion, Highway 37 in the North Bay has long been a major concern of the State. Transportation officials have come up with a plan to fix the vital connecting road, but the method to pay for it is drawing criticism – and raising concerns about how future projects may be funded. The roadway sits only a few feet above the water and has already experienced shutdowns due to flooding. So, the State’s long-term plan is to turn the road into a four-lane “causeway,” essentially, a low-level bridge that will span most of the 21 miles from Vallejo to Novato. It would include a bike and pedestrian lane and a rail line for the SMART commuter train. That will take billions of dollars and more than 20 years to complete. But there is also a short-term plan involving one section of the highway.
• State to consider Highway 37 toll (Marin I-J). Highway 37, the major North Bay commuter route linking Marin and Vallejo, could become a toll road for the second time since it was built nearly a century ago under a proposal before the state this month. The California Transportation Commission is set to decide whether to approve the toll at its May 17-18 meeting in San Francisco. The toll would take effect in 2027 and be similar to tolls on state-owned bridges in the area, which would be at least $8 in 2027. Bay Area transportation agencies and Caltrans are seeking to add the toll to the 12-mile corridor to pay for significant changes to the highway in response to grueling traffic conditions and sea-level rise projections. The near-term project plans to widen a 10-mile, traffic-prone section of road between Sears Point and Mare Island, where the highway bottlenecks to one lane in each direction. The estimated $430 million widening project, planned for completion in 2027, would add a carpool lane in each direction for vehicles with at least two occupants. The carpool lane would not be tolled.

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📰🌈 Fighting the Misinformation

As it is the start of Pride Month, I feel it is appropriate to post these thoughts that have been going around in my head. This all got started last week when I answered a question on Quora about whether trans rights would be the downfall of America, and the ensuing questions and answers that arose therefrom. It made me realize the level of misinformation that is out there, and the stunning ignorance that results from people not listening and thinking. So I’d like to do my part to clarify things, at least from my understanding as a cismale person.

First, there are three distinct things out there that are seemingly being conflated by those on the “anti-Woke” (henceforth !W) crowd:

• Transgender. This is the condition when the physical body that one has is not congruent with the gender identity in the mind. It is something that is really hard for most of us to think about — after all, we never think about our gender as something different than what our sex organs are. But there are those who have that condition. When they do, they have a range of options, from hiding their identity (bad idea), to expressing their identity in various ways. They can simply dress and adopt the lifestyle of the gender they seem themselves as. They can go on the appropriate hormones. They can avail themselves of various surgical options. All of these things require psychological counseling and multiple years; surgery in particular requires years of living as the other gender before it is even considered. Many trans folks don’t have surgery. It is important to note that individuals under 18 DO NOT have irreversible surgery, unless some significant medical reason requires it. Before age 18, puberty blockers are used to delay puberty (there are rare side effects), and in later adulthood, hormone therapy may be used (the “at birth” gender reasserts itself if those hormones are stopped). In other words: Nothing irreversible is done before age 18. It is also important to note that suicide is very common for people suffering from this dysmorphia, and the impacts of the medicines are much better than suicide. It is also important to note that trans is independent of sexuality and sexual desire. Lastly, note that the percentage of folks that are trans is very very small, when compared to the overall population.
• Drag Queens. Drag is just another form of cosplay, and drag queens are just actors inhabiting a persona. Drag has been around for a long time. In Shakespeare’s time, all “women” actors were played by men. We had folks like Milton Berle in the 1950s and 1960s, there was Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in the 1950s, there were TV kid show hosts; there was Flip Wilson and Bob Hope; and of course, there was Mrs. Doubtfire. This is just acting. It is not recruiting kids, and it is not sexual. KIds just like playing around, putting on costumes, and pretending to be other people and using their imaginations. Nothing about sex at all. They like watching people in costume. The important thing here is that drag is for entertainment.
• Cross-dresser. A term for people who dress in clothing traditionally or stereotypically worn by the other sex, but who generally have no intent to live full-time as the other gender. Some of these folks do get sexual pleasure from doing this, but not all. Again, these folks don’t recruit, but do it for their own pleasure.

Different things. None of them recruiting kids.

It is also useful to understand life is rarely binary, and there aren’t simple dimensions in this area. Sex isn’t XX or XY; genetically there is a wide range between the gender (see this article). Gender is a societal construct that changes over time, and it is also a spectrum from male to female to ambiguous areas in-between. There are also dimensions that are spectrums with respect to romantic attraction and sexual attraction (not always the same). And, of course, there are folks who just want to have no part of any of this, and just to live their own life on their terms. We should not be judging on this. As the Skittles ad says: Enjoy the rainbow.

So, the next question is: Should there be laws limiting this stuff? The answer here is a resounding “No”. Such laws are un-American, where the Constitution explicitly permits freedom of expression. Gender is a form of expression. Simple as that.

You say your religion is against it? Then don’t do it yourself. But don’t use your religion as a cudgel to force other people to agree with your religious views. That is also un-American, where there is freedom of religion.

What about bathrooms you say? A few points here:

• If you were in a ladies room, and saw someone dressed as a guy walk in, you would be upset. Similarly, if you were in a men’s room and saw a woman walk in. So the rule should be simple: Go into the restroom that matches your gender expression.
• The notion of genital inspection to enforce restroom usage is just plain stupid. If the government does it, it goes against the 4th amendment: unreasonable search. If a person does it, it is essentially sexual assault.
• But what about exposed genitals in the restroom. I don’t know where you go, but I don’t see them except at the trough pissers at a baseball game. Go into a private stall, mind your business, do your business, and wash your hands.
• What about shared and open showers? That’s a bit of a harder question, for you want to respect others as well. Usually, you can find a private shower to use. You might need to wait until you get home. Talk to the management. But remember: It is as much a concern for the person being seen as the person doing the seeing.

What about sport teams, you say:

• Personally, I think we should get rid of gendered colligate and professional teams, and go to weight and strength based classes, independent of gender. That’s a fair and equitable solution.
• Otherwise, at the College and Professional Level, there should be a requirement to have been on the appropriate hormone for a significant period (which weakens or strengthens muscle mass), with private changing areas. This does actually tend to be quite rare.
• For kids? We shouldn’t have the gender distinction. Just provide the appropriate changing areas, and let the kids have fun playing together.

It boils down to this: Treat people as you would like to be treated: with respect. Call them what they want to be called. Treat them as the gender they present as. Don’t judge, lest ye be judged.

Oh, and let the drag queen read to your kids. They’ll probably enjoy the story, and maybe will learn a very important lesson from the drag queen: reading is a lot of fun.

What? You were thinking they would learn something else?

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 📰🌈 Fighting the Misinformation by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.