Headlines About California Highways – September 2024

September. The official end of summer. All the heat, with a hint of pumpkin spice. For me, September has been filled with finishing the highway page updates, and getting ready for the upcoming general election. For those that don’t know me, I do a deep dive every election through the ballot, examining every race and candidate. I post them, and encourage folks to share, excerpt, or tell me where I’m wrong. I’m not going to go further into them here, other than to note their existence: Part 1 (National and Statewide); Part 2 (Los Angeles Candidates); Part 3 (Propositions); and Part 4 (Judges). Part 5, the summary, will be posted when I get my sample ballot. I encourage everyone to do the same: Be an informed voter. Investigate everything on the ballot and come to your own decisions.

September, this year, also brings Elul and the preparation for the High Holy Days.  If I have offended you in some way, I apologize. Similarly, if you’ve done something offensive to me, don’t worry about it. I forgive you. One thing I won’t forgive, however, is being eligible to vote and then (a) not being an informed voter, and (b) not voting. Please make sure you are registered to vote. Here is my annual High Holy Day post.

But, of course, you come here for the headlines. This post focuses on headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. It also serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

The podcast continues apace. I’m finishing writing Season 3; all that is left are the episodes on US 6 and Route 7. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Yes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org (once it comes back) , the show’s page on Spotify for Podcasters, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

• CA RxR 3.01: Route 3: Through the Mountains of Jefferson.  Welcome to Season 3 of California Highways: Route by Route. We promised that the season would start in September, and we’re making it by the wire. Season 3 covers Routes 3 through 7; this is the first episode covering Route 3, which is in Northwest California near Weaverville and Route 299. In this episode, we talk about all things “three”: The third state route, Legislative Route 3, Sign Route 3, and finally the current Route 3. For the current Route 3, we talk about the history of the route, projects currently ongoing on the route, and some naming along the route. We even have a digression on the proposed Interstate 3. We also talk about the state scenic highway system, and how routes earn the golden poppy. (Spotify for Podcasters)

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for September. The summer doldrums appear to be here, as there aren’t as many articles as usual.

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. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. ↈ indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

• Caltrans to Begin $2 Million Repair Project on State Route 96 in Siskiyou County (Redheaded Blackbelt). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans District 2) and Abacus Construction, Inc. are preparing to begin work on a slip-out project in State Route 96 in Siskiyou County. The $2 million project will repair a section of roadway that was recently damaged by a slip-out caused by over saturation near Happy Camp, approximately 4.3 miles east of Gordon Ferrys Road. The project will place rock slope protection at the damaged riverside slope, install underdrains and outlets, repave, and restripe. Construction activities are currently planned to start on September 3rd. Once work begins, motorists should plan for one-way traffic control in the project area with up to 10-minute delays, Mondays – Fridays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Travelers are urged to slow down and drive carefully in and around construction areas, follow speed limit reductions in place, and allot extra time for delays. The project is currently anticipated to be completed by the end of October.
• SR-14 North Los Angeles County Safety & Mobility Improvements Project (PA/ED) (LA Metro). Metro has a plan to enhance safety and improve mobility in north Los Angeles County. The SR-14 corridor is known for high accident rates and unpredictable travel times. Metro is collaborating with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the North County Transportation Coalition (NCTC) to explore various safety and mobility improvement options.
• What the rest of the country can learn from a dying Bay Area highway (SF Gate). A human-made border traces an imperfect line through the bog and grassy flats where the Bay Area’s northernmost counties intersect: Highway 37. It’s a vital corridor, transporting 40,000 vehicles a day between Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties. It’s also one of the region’s most vulnerable throughways, as it succumbs to nature’s battle for reclamation. It’s a fitting coincidence, since death and decay are baked into the highway’s DNA. For about half of its entire 21-mile span between Novato and Vallejo, where the highway shrinks into two lanes, it runs in tandem with the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The marshland is where the San Francisco Bay ends its northern expansion.
• Metro, Caltrans eye Highway 14 plans (MSN/The Signal). A little help with Highway 14’s “choke points” and maybe even a small wildlife corridor are among the possible suggestions being evaluated to alleviate east-side traffic concerns on the state route, officials said this week. Santa Clarita City Councilwoman Marsha McLean announced that the outreach is starting this week from the two main agencies involved — the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Metro. Metro, which created a website for the SR-14 North Los Angeles County Safety & Mobility Improvements Project, is holding two meetings in the region on Sept. 12 and Sept. 14, in Palmdale and Santa Clarita, respectively.
• California DMV gears up to allow driverless trucking amid calls to curb high-tech big rigs (NBC Bay Area). The California DMV has unveiled plans to eventually allow driverless trucks on highways across the state. As the NBC Bay Area Investigative Unit first reported last year, self-driving big rigs have already been tested in other states and internationally, but California banned the use of driverless vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds until it could establish rules for how to test and permit the vehicles.
• California Senate passes bill to put speed cameras on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu (CBS Los Angeles). The California Senate passed a bill to increase safety along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. SB 1297, authored by Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, calls for the state to install five speed camera systems along the 21-mile stretch of PCH that passes through Malibu. “I’m not interested in punishing people,” Allen said. “I’m interested in compliance. So for me, its not about giving out tickets. For me, it’s about getting people to slow down.” Allen and Irwin said the cameras will be placed in the areas that recorded the most speed-related collisions and fatalities. The community called on lawmakers to increase safety along the highway for several years. The demands grew exponentially after four Pepperdine students were killed in October 2023. The driver charged for the deadly crash allegedly went 104 mph in a 45-mph zone and slammed into the women. [The bill was eventually signed]
• ＄ Bill would alert drivers who go 10 mph over the speed limit (Los Angeles Times). A bill awaiting approval from Gov. Gavin Newsom would require vehicles to include a warning system to alert drivers anytime they went more than 10 miles over the speed limit. If passed, the requirement would go into effect in the 2030 model year for all new vehicles, with exceptions for emergency vehicles, motorcycles, motorized bicycles, mopeds and passenger vehicles already equipped with a GPS or a front-facing camera. This would mark the first law of its kind in the U.S. and would rely on existing “intelligent speed adaptation” technology to try to curtail traffic fatalities and injuries. [The bill was ultimately vetoed]

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