Headlines About California Highways – October 2024

October. The month where we go from the heat of the High Holy Days (Yom KIppur always seems to be the last heat spurt of the year) to the crispness of Fall.

October. The month where bands of people go house to house demanding either protection candy or political donations.

October. The month where we finally get registration for the Annual Computer Security Applications Conference open, and I start worrying about whether we’ll make our numbers for attendance, hotel rooms, and food and beverage minimums. If you work in computer security, come out to Hawaii in December and join us at the conference!

October. The month where I finally replenished the tea cabinet, with large orders from Upton Tea in Mass., and Sheffield Tea in Nevada.

This has been a stressful month. I’ve got loads of stress over the election, which will be pivotal for the nation. If you can legally do so, please go out and vote. 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); Part 4 (Judges) and Part 5, the summary. I encourage everyone to do the same: Be an informed voter. Investigate everything on the ballot and come to your own decisions. Hopefully, in a few days, we’ll know the results of the election, and we can start putting the intense political divisions in the closet again. The election has been dividing friends and families. Remember to see people as people, not political sides. Try to imagine them as little kids, playing and going to school… before you ask yourself where they went horribly wrong.

But this post isn’t about political pontification (which is why I try to be neutral above): It is about California’s Highways, and the headlines thereabout. As a reminder, 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 , 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 (episode 3.03 has been recorded and edited, and should be posted in a few days):

• CA RxR 3.02: Route 4: Hercules to Stockton.  In this episode, we commence a 3-part exploration of Route 4. This episode starts with all things Route 4: The 4th state route, DOH and Legislative Route 4, and pre-1964 Route 4, finally setting on today’s Route 4. We talk about the LRNs that make up today’s Route 4: LRN 106, LRN 75, and LRN 24. We focus on the first segment of the route, from I-80 in Hercules to I-5 in Stockton. We talk about Route 4 in cities such as Hercules, Martinez, Concord, Antioch, Brentwood, the wetlands, and the Port of Stockton. We also talk about freeway segments, projects, and names along the route. The subsequent two episodes continue Route 4, with 3.03 focusing on the Stockton Crosstown Freeway. (Spotify for Podcasters)

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for October.

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

• The State Route 220 (SR-220) J-Mack Ferry will be Dry Docked for Required Hull Inspection Long-Term Closure Starting Sunday Night at Midnight, September 29, 2024  (Caltrans). Caltrans has scheduled a long-term closure of the State Route 220 (SR-220) J-Mack Ferry. The closure starts Sunday Night, September 29, 2024, and will continue for approximately 2-3 months. The closure is needed to perform repairs and federally mandated Coast Guard inspections. Per Coast Guard regulations, the J-Mack ferry cannot operate until the boat is dry-docked, the hull has been inspected at its 5-year interval, and the inspection is completed. The Delta’s companion ferry, the Real McCoy Ferry (SR-84) can be used for crossings, while the J-Mack Ferry is out of service.
• MOOMAT AHIKO WAY (Santa Monica) (FB/LA Street Names). It might look half Arabic and half Japanese, but Moomat Ahiko is all Native American. In 2004, the City of Santa Monica received 97 entries in an online survey to name the road that connects PCH to Ocean Avenue.
• Traffic Lanes to Switch Again on U.S. 395 Near Cartago Drivers are reminded the speed limit through the project area is 55 mph (Sierra Wave). There are changes coming next week to traffic flow on U.S. 395 through Olancha and Cartago. Southbound U.S. 395 traffic will switch onto the new southbound lanes of the Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project starting October 7. With this switch, Caltrans will open a new road connecting the new southbound lanes to old U.S. 395 and State Route 190.
• One of SoCal’s most beautiful highways has been closed for decades (SF Gate). After winding beyond the city limits of Azusa, state Route 39 quickly transports drivers from Los Angeles County suburbia to a twisting, two-lane forest road that travels into the depths of the San Gabriel Mountains. The highway passes the San Gabriel Reservoir, travels alongside the San Gabriel River, and eventually reaches Crystal Lake and the Crystal Lake Cafe about 25 miles north of Azusa, where families flock in the winter months to play in the snow. And then, the highway just ends.
• ＄ San Rafael highway connector project study begins (Marin IJ). A project designed to unclog a key highway logjam in San Rafael is on the right track, county residents said at a meeting this week. The feedback came after a Transportation Authority of Marin “scoping session” on Tuesday revealed greater detail about potential connectivity improvements between northbound Highway 101 and eastbound Interstate 580. Residents said they liked that planners are focusing on improvements to Bellam Boulevard, the eastern San Rafael street that is routinely overwhelmed by the mixing of local and commuter traffic. “This represents a substantial change that they’re listening to the community, and they’re listening to San Rafael,” Jeff Rhoads, a San Rafael resident, said of project planners.
• ＄ Route 78-Interstate 5 interchange project stalls: ‘We have gone back to the drawing board again’ (MSN/San Diego U-T). A solution for the congestion that regularly clogs the state Route 78 access to Interstate 5 in Oceanside is more than a decade in the future, and North County drivers are not pleased. Preliminary planning began in 2012 for onramps to replace the traffic lights that back up traffic entering southbound I-5 from the westbound lanes of the 78 and from eastbound Vista Way. However, more public engagement, traffic studies, an environmental impact report and, perhaps most important, funding are needed, Caltrans officials said. Construction is tentatively set for 2033-2037. “This project has started and stopped a few times,” said Steve Welborn, public affairs manager and legislative affairs liaison for Caltrans, in a presentation last week to the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce. “We have gone back to the drawing board again.”
• Route 371 Complete Streets – Engagement Phase (Caltrans Engagement Portal). This project proposes to study multimodal transportation improvements, including but not limited to; a Class I two-way shared use path exclusively for bicyclists and pedestrians adjacent to SR-371 but separated from the roadway (including culvert repairs / extensions as needed); Class II bike lanes with painted buffer; sidewalks through the town of Anza; high visibility crosswalks where appropriate; and shoulder widening where needed to accommodate bike lanes. An existing marked crosswalk at Contreras Road will be upgraded for higher visibility, along with upgrading existing curb ramps to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards. Additional improvements are proposed at existing bus stop locations as Caltrans intends to engage with partners to evaluate the viability of transit services to destinations along the route.
• I-5 North County Enhancements Project (LA Metro). Santa Clarita, which is now the third-largest city in LA County, is expected to increase its population by more than 25,000 people by 2035 as documented in the City of Santa Clarita’s One Vision One Valley Plan. To prepare for this increase and relieve congestion in the Santa Clarita Valley, Metro and Caltrans District 7, will be making operational and safety enhancements along the Interstate 5 (I-5) freeway in the northern part of LA County from the State Route 14 (SR-14) interchange in Santa Clarita to just south of Parker Rd in Castaic.

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