Interesting Links for 06-12-2025
Dec. 6th, 2025 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- 1. Netflix announces deal to buy Warner Bros. and HBO
- (tags:WarnerBrothers HBO netflix )
- 2. Did Rachel Reeves mislead the public ahead of the Budget?
- (tags:budget UK FactCheck politics )
- 3. Visualising Klotski (fantastic 3d visualisations of possibilities)
- (tags:video game viaSwampers visualisation )
- 4. 'Forks Out': A Benoit Blanc Sesame Street Mystery
- (tags:muppets mysteries video satire )
- 5. Wall Street races to protect itself from AI bubble
- (tags:AI investment insurance )
- 6. Original version of Star Wars Returns to Theaters for 50th Anniversary
- (tags:StarWars movies )
- 7. Several teams of female gamers have dropped out of the Dead by Daylight Women's World Cup after trans women were banned.
- (tags:LGBT bigotry transgender gaming women )
- 8. Adenosine as the metabolic common path of rapid antidepressant action: The coffee paradox
- (tags:depression )
- 9. The USA is officially removing itself from positive engagement in world affairs.
- (tags:USA politics diplomacy NATO )
- 10. Edinburgh confirms Visitor Levy affordable housing spend
- (tags:Edinburgh housing GoodNews )
Westward Circumnavigation, Leg 2 - Hamburg, Germany
Dec. 5th, 2025 09:50 pmfauxkloreFRA is probably the European airport I’ve flown into the largest number of times and it remains a particularly annoying one. On this trip, we had approximately an hour wait after arrival before our bags came out. I’d booked a night at the Hilton Garden Inn, which is in Squaire, a development that includes a few other hotels, various places to eat, and some other stuff and, most significantly, is immediately on top of the station for long-distance trains. What it does not have is decent signage. In fact, the signs for the hotel (and all the other airport hotels) actually lead you quite a distance out of the way. When I did, eventually, find the hotel, it was very nice. So all was well.
I had booked a train to Hamburg for the next morning. I had no problem finding the right track, but the train was delayed about half an hour. I was a bit surprised at how many trains were running late. My train got into Hamburg about an hour late. I took a taxi to my hotel and was pleasantly surprised that they decided to give me Platinum benefits even though I only have Marriott Gold status. Mostly, that meant including breakfast. Overall, the Renaissance was a very nice place to stay and quite conveniently located. It was a short walk to several restaurants and shops and, more importantly, to an S-bahn / U-bahn station. I got supper the first evening at a nearby currywurst restaurant that even had a vegetarian option (and bison of all things). As proof that I had not really adjusted to the time zone, I failed to order beer with my meal, opting for soda.
Anyway, one of the major places I intended to see in Hamburg was the Auswanderemuseum BallinStadt (German Emigration Museum), which was a short S-bahn ride away. While many of the exhibits were only in German, I did remember enough of my high school German to get the gist of them. And there was enough English to make a useful supplement. I was particularly interested in the exhibits about Albert Ballin, who founded the Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG, which later merged with Lloyd and is still a major shipping company). The museum is located in what had originally been the Emigration Halls that his ocean liners left from. The museum also includes recordings (available in both German and English) that depict the experiences of emigrants. Unfortunately, one of them repeats the myth of people’s names being changed at Ellis Island, including the notorious “Sean Ferguson” story. (The story is that a Jewish man had his name changed but couldn’t remember what it had been changed to. So, when asked, he said “shayn fergessen” which is Yiddish for “I’ve already forgotten,” and his name became Sean Ferguson. The truth is that the immigration officials at Ellis Island never changed anybody’s names, because they just copied names from the passenger manifests and never took names themselves.) By the way, they also have a few computers set up to access the Hamburg passenger lists, but those just take you to Ancestry, which I can just as easily do at home.
Here’s a mock-up of a ship.
I can’t explain why they made the Statue of Liberty pink.
I went back to the center of Hamburg and went to a store called idee. This is, essentially, the German equivalent of Michael’s. I bought a cake of yarn, figuring it would give me something else to occupy myself on the cruise leg of my ship. And, of course, yarn bought in other countries is souvenir, not stash, so doesn’t count.
Then I walked back to my hotel, passing by the city hall. It still amuses me that the German for that is “rathaus.”
I’d picked up various brochures of things to do and, since I love modern art glass, opted for a trip on the U-bahn to the northern part of the city to go to the Achilles-Stiftung Glass Museum. It was a little confusing to find the entrance to it, largely because one of the signs had an arrow pointing the wrong way, but I found it and it proved to be quite spectacular. Here is a very small sampling of some of the best art glass I’ve seen anywhere.
After that, I attempted to go to the House of Photography (sort of near the central train station) but they were closed to set up for their next exhibit. Instead, I went to one of the modern art museums which had an exhibit called On the Origins of the 21st Century of the Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography. The most interesting thing there was a video called 33 Situations that had to do with sexual abuse of lesbians in the notorious Lubyanka prison (former KGB headquarters) in Moscow.
I only had one more day for sightseeing in Hamburg. I could have gone to the Kunsthalle, which is supposed to be an excellent art museum. Or I could have gone to Miniatur Wunderland, which includes the largest model railway system in the world and is, allegedly, the most popular tourist attraction in Germany. Instead, I chose to go to the Composers Quarter. This consists of a series of connected museums having to do with seven composers who lived or worked in Hamburg. The exhibits are largely in German, but they have booklets with English translation available to borrow. And their headphone system gives you a choice of German or English, as well as a lot of musical samples. Since I like baroque music, I spent a lot of time with Georg Philipp Telemann and almost as much with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, whose clavier they have (along with videos of it being played).
That didn’t leave me enough time for more than a glimpse at the material on Johann Adolf Hasse, Gustav Mahler, or the Mendelssohns (Fanny and Felix). There was a concert in the Brahms Museum and I listened to part of that, but there was a lot more lecture than actual performance. Overall, I spent roughly 4 1/2 hours there and, frankly, I could have spent twice as long. I recommend it highly to any music lovers who happen to find themselves in Hamburg.
One other thing I should note about Hamburg is that, even though I know better, I kept seeing signs saying “Hamburger” and thinking of the food, rather than the city I was in. I did actually get a burger for dinner my last night anyway.
I’ll write about the final leg of the trip in the next post.
I had booked a train to Hamburg for the next morning. I had no problem finding the right track, but the train was delayed about half an hour. I was a bit surprised at how many trains were running late. My train got into Hamburg about an hour late. I took a taxi to my hotel and was pleasantly surprised that they decided to give me Platinum benefits even though I only have Marriott Gold status. Mostly, that meant including breakfast. Overall, the Renaissance was a very nice place to stay and quite conveniently located. It was a short walk to several restaurants and shops and, more importantly, to an S-bahn / U-bahn station. I got supper the first evening at a nearby currywurst restaurant that even had a vegetarian option (and bison of all things). As proof that I had not really adjusted to the time zone, I failed to order beer with my meal, opting for soda.
Anyway, one of the major places I intended to see in Hamburg was the Auswanderemuseum BallinStadt (German Emigration Museum), which was a short S-bahn ride away. While many of the exhibits were only in German, I did remember enough of my high school German to get the gist of them. And there was enough English to make a useful supplement. I was particularly interested in the exhibits about Albert Ballin, who founded the Hamburg-America Line (HAPAG, which later merged with Lloyd and is still a major shipping company). The museum is located in what had originally been the Emigration Halls that his ocean liners left from. The museum also includes recordings (available in both German and English) that depict the experiences of emigrants. Unfortunately, one of them repeats the myth of people’s names being changed at Ellis Island, including the notorious “Sean Ferguson” story. (The story is that a Jewish man had his name changed but couldn’t remember what it had been changed to. So, when asked, he said “shayn fergessen” which is Yiddish for “I’ve already forgotten,” and his name became Sean Ferguson. The truth is that the immigration officials at Ellis Island never changed anybody’s names, because they just copied names from the passenger manifests and never took names themselves.) By the way, they also have a few computers set up to access the Hamburg passenger lists, but those just take you to Ancestry, which I can just as easily do at home.
Here’s a mock-up of a ship.
I can’t explain why they made the Statue of Liberty pink.
I went back to the center of Hamburg and went to a store called idee. This is, essentially, the German equivalent of Michael’s. I bought a cake of yarn, figuring it would give me something else to occupy myself on the cruise leg of my ship. And, of course, yarn bought in other countries is souvenir, not stash, so doesn’t count.
Then I walked back to my hotel, passing by the city hall. It still amuses me that the German for that is “rathaus.”
I’d picked up various brochures of things to do and, since I love modern art glass, opted for a trip on the U-bahn to the northern part of the city to go to the Achilles-Stiftung Glass Museum. It was a little confusing to find the entrance to it, largely because one of the signs had an arrow pointing the wrong way, but I found it and it proved to be quite spectacular. Here is a very small sampling of some of the best art glass I’ve seen anywhere.
After that, I attempted to go to the House of Photography (sort of near the central train station) but they were closed to set up for their next exhibit. Instead, I went to one of the modern art museums which had an exhibit called On the Origins of the 21st Century of the Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography. The most interesting thing there was a video called 33 Situations that had to do with sexual abuse of lesbians in the notorious Lubyanka prison (former KGB headquarters) in Moscow.
I only had one more day for sightseeing in Hamburg. I could have gone to the Kunsthalle, which is supposed to be an excellent art museum. Or I could have gone to Miniatur Wunderland, which includes the largest model railway system in the world and is, allegedly, the most popular tourist attraction in Germany. Instead, I chose to go to the Composers Quarter. This consists of a series of connected museums having to do with seven composers who lived or worked in Hamburg. The exhibits are largely in German, but they have booklets with English translation available to borrow. And their headphone system gives you a choice of German or English, as well as a lot of musical samples. Since I like baroque music, I spent a lot of time with Georg Philipp Telemann and almost as much with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, whose clavier they have (along with videos of it being played).
That didn’t leave me enough time for more than a glimpse at the material on Johann Adolf Hasse, Gustav Mahler, or the Mendelssohns (Fanny and Felix). There was a concert in the Brahms Museum and I listened to part of that, but there was a lot more lecture than actual performance. Overall, I spent roughly 4 1/2 hours there and, frankly, I could have spent twice as long. I recommend it highly to any music lovers who happen to find themselves in Hamburg.
One other thing I should note about Hamburg is that, even though I know better, I kept seeing signs saying “Hamburger” and thinking of the food, rather than the city I was in. I did actually get a burger for dinner my last night anyway.
I’ll write about the final leg of the trip in the next post.
Westward Circumnavigation, Leg 1 - Taiwan
Dec. 4th, 2025 09:02 pmfauxkloreThe one flight I paid for with actual money (vs. frequent flyer miles) was from Washington Dulles to San Francisco. Because I had gotten compensation for a couple of flight delays over the summer, this cost me next to nothing. The catch was that the flight was at 6:30 in the morning, which meant taking a Lyft to IAD at oh-dark-thirty. As is all too typical when I have early flights like that, going to bed early didn’t really work and I got much too little sleep.
I first flew into SFO in August 1980, when I moved to the Bay Area to go to grad school at Berkeley. The airport was under construction. It has been under construction for the 45 years since. This time it was a particularly long walk to baggage claim and, from there, to the air train. I had decided that staying at the Grand Hyatt was a good use of Hyatt points and this proved to have been a good decision. They charged me $30 for early check-in, but that was a good deal since I’d gotten a $600 room for free. So, instead of going into the city and going to a museum or the like, I took a nap and spent some time reading and doing puzzles. You can avoid the high prices at the hotel restaurant if you realize that there’s a food court outside of security in the international terminal. I did splurge on breakfast in the morning, however.
The flight from SFO to TPE is nearly 14 hours, so it was a good thing that I’d had enough miles to do it in business class. I decided to splurge on a taxi when I arrived instead of trying to figure out the public transportation. That was a smart decision because, as I learned in the morning, Taipei Main Station is a bit of a maze and, while my hotel was a very short walk from the station, finding the entrance would have been challenging on my own. I stayed for three nights at White Space Design Hotel which was okay, but the room was very small and the bathroom was the sort that floods completely when you take a shower.
As for what to see, I had read the relevant sections of both the Fodor’s and Frommer’s guidebooks. I also found Nick Kembel’s Taiwan Obsessed website to be very helpful.
My first sightseeing excursion was to the National Palace Museum. I’d bought a three day pass for the transit system, which was convenient, but not really a great deal. Getting to the museum was easy enough (via metro and bus). The museum itself was completely overwhelming. I’m a big fan of calligraphy and manuscripts, so spent a lot of time looking at their book and scroll collection. Most of the displays had to do with books from the Song dynasty (roughly 1100’s through 1200’s) so I kept making mental jokes about there being a lot of songbooks.
I also looked at other things, e.g. clay and jade and bronze. I particularly liked several of the jade pieces.
I spent several hours at the museum (with a break to have lunch in their cafe) and found it completely overwhelming. I’d have liked to see their textile collection (which is in another building) but, at that point, I didn’t think I could absorb anything else.
I started Sunday morning with the Flower and Jade Markets, which are near Daan Park, which was a pleasant place to walk around. The jade market didn’t really engage me, alas. But the flower market was overwhelming and was one of the highlights of my time in Taipei.
There were several things I was interested in doing, but I decided it was important to take advantage of the weather being clear, as rain was predicted for the rest of my time there. That made it a good afternoon to go to Taipei 101, which had once been the tallest building in the world. There’s a huge food court there, which is a good (albeit crowded) place to get lunch. There’s also an upscale shopping mall. But the real reason to go there is to go up to the observation deck. I chose to go to the 89th floor enclosed area, instead of paying a lot more to go to the outdoor skydeck on the 101st floor. You get views over the whole area, including both the city, with a lot of tall modern building, and the surrounding mountains. By the way, you can also go down to the 88th floor and see the large damper that protects the building from earthquakes.
Overall, the experience is quite similar to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is what is currently the tallest building in the world.
The other site in Taipei that I considered essential was the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Fortunately, that is one of the few things in Taipei that is open on Mondays. It is also free to visit. It was a rainy day, which was annoying, particularly because it meant they weren’t doing the famous changing of the guard. But there was still plenty to see.
Note that you can enter at one of the sides and take the elevator up, instead of climbing all of those stairs. The main thing to see inside is the bronze statue of Chiang Kai-Shek on the 4th floor.
There are also several exhibit halls with various art exhibitions. The parks surrounding the monument are lovely and, had it not been windy and rainy, I could have spent much of the day walking around them. Instead, I took the metro to some outlying areas, where I walked around a couple of malls without finding anything (other than a late lunch) that I wanted to buy.
Eventually, I went back to Taipei Main, walked back to the hotel, and retrieved my bag, before taking the commuter train to the Airport MRT Station in Taiyuan, which was a short walk through the Gloria Outlets to Hotel Cozzi Blu, where I’d spend that night and the next. This was a much fancier (and, hence, pricier) hotel, but the price was still fairly reasonable. The room I got was huge and the bathroom was equipped with a Japanese washlet toilet (as well as a shower that drained in the actual shower enclosure, rather than the middle of the floor.) They also provide free snacks, e.g. a packet of potato chips and a small can of coke.
The main reason for staying there is that it’s right next to XPark, which is the aquarium that had triggered this part of the trip. It was also conveniently close to the airport for my early flight on Wednesday.
Xpark did prove to be worth going to, especially if you like jellyfish. (And, yes, I know you are supposed to call them jellies, but old habits die hard.)
They do have a fairly wide assortment of other things, e.g. fish of all sizes (including sharks and rays, but none of my beloved sea dragons). They put the penguins near their cafe, with a tunnel for them to walk over the cafe, which is pretty cute. They also have an outdoor area (with umbrellas to borrow, if you didn’t have your own), but the weather was pretty unpleasant.
My intention had been to use a couple of hours that afternoon to shop. There was, however, a catch. The typhoon that had done some serious damage to the Phillippines was heading towards Taiwan which was why there was so much heavy rain. The city of Taoyuan had pretty much shut down, so both the Gloria Outlets and the nearby Landmark Plaza Mall were closed. There was allegedly a yarn store a short walk away, but it was closed. I retreated to my hotel room to do puzzles and read instead. I was also concerned about my flight the next day. So it was not exactly the best travel day ever. However, the nearby convenience store was open and provided food for supper. (Convenience stores in most Asian countries are, in general, far superior to any American 7-11 or, even, Wawa.)
In the end, my flight did go out in the morning. It was, however, a little over an hour late. Since I had only a two hour layover at BKK, I was concerned about my connection. You can only imagine my relief when I got off the plane and there was a woman standing there with a sign with my connecting flight info and my name. Yes, Thai Air had sent an escort to get me to the flight to Frankfurt. It was a long walk - and a bit confusing since it was going out from the satellite terminal. I got to the gate about 15 minutes before boarding started and collapsed for the next 11 1/2 hours. I’ll pick up the story in the next post.
I first flew into SFO in August 1980, when I moved to the Bay Area to go to grad school at Berkeley. The airport was under construction. It has been under construction for the 45 years since. This time it was a particularly long walk to baggage claim and, from there, to the air train. I had decided that staying at the Grand Hyatt was a good use of Hyatt points and this proved to have been a good decision. They charged me $30 for early check-in, but that was a good deal since I’d gotten a $600 room for free. So, instead of going into the city and going to a museum or the like, I took a nap and spent some time reading and doing puzzles. You can avoid the high prices at the hotel restaurant if you realize that there’s a food court outside of security in the international terminal. I did splurge on breakfast in the morning, however.
The flight from SFO to TPE is nearly 14 hours, so it was a good thing that I’d had enough miles to do it in business class. I decided to splurge on a taxi when I arrived instead of trying to figure out the public transportation. That was a smart decision because, as I learned in the morning, Taipei Main Station is a bit of a maze and, while my hotel was a very short walk from the station, finding the entrance would have been challenging on my own. I stayed for three nights at White Space Design Hotel which was okay, but the room was very small and the bathroom was the sort that floods completely when you take a shower.
As for what to see, I had read the relevant sections of both the Fodor’s and Frommer’s guidebooks. I also found Nick Kembel’s Taiwan Obsessed website to be very helpful.
My first sightseeing excursion was to the National Palace Museum. I’d bought a three day pass for the transit system, which was convenient, but not really a great deal. Getting to the museum was easy enough (via metro and bus). The museum itself was completely overwhelming. I’m a big fan of calligraphy and manuscripts, so spent a lot of time looking at their book and scroll collection. Most of the displays had to do with books from the Song dynasty (roughly 1100’s through 1200’s) so I kept making mental jokes about there being a lot of songbooks.
I also looked at other things, e.g. clay and jade and bronze. I particularly liked several of the jade pieces.
I spent several hours at the museum (with a break to have lunch in their cafe) and found it completely overwhelming. I’d have liked to see their textile collection (which is in another building) but, at that point, I didn’t think I could absorb anything else.
I started Sunday morning with the Flower and Jade Markets, which are near Daan Park, which was a pleasant place to walk around. The jade market didn’t really engage me, alas. But the flower market was overwhelming and was one of the highlights of my time in Taipei.
There were several things I was interested in doing, but I decided it was important to take advantage of the weather being clear, as rain was predicted for the rest of my time there. That made it a good afternoon to go to Taipei 101, which had once been the tallest building in the world. There’s a huge food court there, which is a good (albeit crowded) place to get lunch. There’s also an upscale shopping mall. But the real reason to go there is to go up to the observation deck. I chose to go to the 89th floor enclosed area, instead of paying a lot more to go to the outdoor skydeck on the 101st floor. You get views over the whole area, including both the city, with a lot of tall modern building, and the surrounding mountains. By the way, you can also go down to the 88th floor and see the large damper that protects the building from earthquakes.
Overall, the experience is quite similar to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which is what is currently the tallest building in the world.
The other site in Taipei that I considered essential was the Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall. Fortunately, that is one of the few things in Taipei that is open on Mondays. It is also free to visit. It was a rainy day, which was annoying, particularly because it meant they weren’t doing the famous changing of the guard. But there was still plenty to see.
Note that you can enter at one of the sides and take the elevator up, instead of climbing all of those stairs. The main thing to see inside is the bronze statue of Chiang Kai-Shek on the 4th floor.
There are also several exhibit halls with various art exhibitions. The parks surrounding the monument are lovely and, had it not been windy and rainy, I could have spent much of the day walking around them. Instead, I took the metro to some outlying areas, where I walked around a couple of malls without finding anything (other than a late lunch) that I wanted to buy.
Eventually, I went back to Taipei Main, walked back to the hotel, and retrieved my bag, before taking the commuter train to the Airport MRT Station in Taiyuan, which was a short walk through the Gloria Outlets to Hotel Cozzi Blu, where I’d spend that night and the next. This was a much fancier (and, hence, pricier) hotel, but the price was still fairly reasonable. The room I got was huge and the bathroom was equipped with a Japanese washlet toilet (as well as a shower that drained in the actual shower enclosure, rather than the middle of the floor.) They also provide free snacks, e.g. a packet of potato chips and a small can of coke.
The main reason for staying there is that it’s right next to XPark, which is the aquarium that had triggered this part of the trip. It was also conveniently close to the airport for my early flight on Wednesday.
Xpark did prove to be worth going to, especially if you like jellyfish. (And, yes, I know you are supposed to call them jellies, but old habits die hard.)
They do have a fairly wide assortment of other things, e.g. fish of all sizes (including sharks and rays, but none of my beloved sea dragons). They put the penguins near their cafe, with a tunnel for them to walk over the cafe, which is pretty cute. They also have an outdoor area (with umbrellas to borrow, if you didn’t have your own), but the weather was pretty unpleasant.
My intention had been to use a couple of hours that afternoon to shop. There was, however, a catch. The typhoon that had done some serious damage to the Phillippines was heading towards Taiwan which was why there was so much heavy rain. The city of Taoyuan had pretty much shut down, so both the Gloria Outlets and the nearby Landmark Plaza Mall were closed. There was allegedly a yarn store a short walk away, but it was closed. I retreated to my hotel room to do puzzles and read instead. I was also concerned about my flight the next day. So it was not exactly the best travel day ever. However, the nearby convenience store was open and provided food for supper. (Convenience stores in most Asian countries are, in general, far superior to any American 7-11 or, even, Wawa.)
In the end, my flight did go out in the morning. It was, however, a little over an hour late. Since I had only a two hour layover at BKK, I was concerned about my connection. You can only imagine my relief when I got off the plane and there was a woman standing there with a sign with my connecting flight info and my name. Yes, Thai Air had sent an escort to get me to the flight to Frankfurt. It was a long walk - and a bit confusing since it was going out from the satellite terminal. I got to the gate about 15 minutes before boarding started and collapsed for the next 11 1/2 hours. I’ll pick up the story in the next post.
Interesting Links for 04-12-2025
Dec. 4th, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Abolishing trial by jury: why is the government overlooking the obvious?
- (tags:law UK )
- 2. Drunk raccoon found passed out on liquor store floor after breaking in
- (tags:alcohol animals )
- 3. Arguments about simulated universes
- (tags:simulation philosophy argument funny comic )
- 4. Americans being ignorant about other countries
- (tags:countries USA ignorance funny )
- 5. Sasha the Christmas tiger
- (tags:tiger Christmas )
Life with two kids: Christmas monitoring
Dec. 4th, 2025 07:31 amandrewduckerOpening up my YouTube Recap so I can find out what nonsense Gideon has been watching this year.
(Sophia is on her own account, but for technical reasons Gideon can't be yet.)
(Sophia is on her own account, but for technical reasons Gideon can't be yet.)
Westward Circumnavigation - An Introduction
Dec. 3rd, 2025 09:28 pmfauxkloreI did promise to write about the around the world trip that I took in November, so let’s start with the planning. I know a lot of people who say they like to travel but hate planning. I’m not one of those people. I love planning travel. I’m generally happy to offer travel advice to other people, but planning my own trips are one of my favorite things.
The real genesis of this trip was in May 2024, when I was in Lisbon before the Travelers’ Century Club conference in the Azores. I did a hop-on hop-off bus tour and went to the Lisbon Oceanarium, which is one of the largest aquariums in Europe. That got me wondering where the largest ones are. One of which is the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Hengchun, Taiwan.
When I was planning this trip, I did a bit more research and one site recommended Xpark, which is near the Taipei Airport instead. It was much easier to get to and there were other major sites to see in Taipei, so I decided that would be a good choice.
But the real reason for the trip was that back in 2000 I had taken a trip in which I circumnavigated the world going eastward. My route was Los Angeles to St. Petersburg, Russia (via Frankfurt, Germany), a train to Moscow where I joined a tour to Tuva, Siberia, and Mongolia, which ended with a flight to Beijing before flying home to Los Angeles.
Because I am slightly crazy, I decided that I should also circumnavigate the world going westward. I’m not sure where I saw an ad for a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 from Hamburg, Germany to New York. The dates worked for me and the price was reasonable. I was also able to use frequent flyer miles for the international flights. That resulted in not quite enough days in either Taiwan or Hamburg, but so it goes. I’ll write about each leg in the next few posts.
The real genesis of this trip was in May 2024, when I was in Lisbon before the Travelers’ Century Club conference in the Azores. I did a hop-on hop-off bus tour and went to the Lisbon Oceanarium, which is one of the largest aquariums in Europe. That got me wondering where the largest ones are. One of which is the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Hengchun, Taiwan.
When I was planning this trip, I did a bit more research and one site recommended Xpark, which is near the Taipei Airport instead. It was much easier to get to and there were other major sites to see in Taipei, so I decided that would be a good choice.
But the real reason for the trip was that back in 2000 I had taken a trip in which I circumnavigated the world going eastward. My route was Los Angeles to St. Petersburg, Russia (via Frankfurt, Germany), a train to Moscow where I joined a tour to Tuva, Siberia, and Mongolia, which ended with a flight to Beijing before flying home to Los Angeles.
Because I am slightly crazy, I decided that I should also circumnavigate the world going westward. I’m not sure where I saw an ad for a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 from Hamburg, Germany to New York. The dates worked for me and the price was reasonable. I was also able to use frequent flyer miles for the international flights. That resulted in not quite enough days in either Taiwan or Hamburg, but so it goes. I’ll write about each leg in the next few posts.
Interesting Links for 03-12-2025
Dec. 3rd, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Humble Comic Bundle: Image Comics in the '10s (175 trade paperbacks, many of them awesome, for cheap)
- (tags:comics charity )
- 2. Gaelic and Scots gain official status on St Andrew's Day
- (tags:Scotland language )
- 3. Shingles vaccination caused a 29.5% reduction in deaths due to dementia
- (tags:dementia vaccine )
- 4. The real reasons why courts have a massive backlog
- (tags:UK law austerity organisation OhForFucksSake )
- 5. HBO Max's 'Mad Men' Vomit Scene Proves 'Remastered' Doesn't Mean 'Better'
- (tags:TV resolution fail )
From the Clippings File
Dec. 2nd, 2025 08:23 pmfauxkloreI started writing this before I left on my trip. I suspect I have more things that I intended to include, but I have no idea where they are. I did add a couple of recent items at the end.
I clip interesting things from magazines planning to comment on them later on. Here is an attempt to catch up on them a little bit.
From MIT Spectrum - Spring 2024: This was from an article about the problem of sustainability in the textile industry. There was the astonishing (to me, at least) information that the textile manufacturing industry produces more carbon dioxide equivalent per year than the aviation and maritime industries combined. The other astonishing tidbit was that “the average garment is worn just seven times before it ends up in a landfill.” I, for one, have been known to wear the same garment seven times in the same month. And don’t get me started on how old some of my clothing is. The other day, I was wearing a shirt that I know I bought in 1998. It is getting a bit raggedy at the cuffs, but it’s still usable for travel.
From Technology Review Reader Mailbag: I am not sure what issue this was from. Someone sent in a question asking if it’s true that if everybody just avoided words like “please,” “hello,” and so on when querying AI models, we could save a considerable amount of energy. The response from a climate reporter who had coauthored a story about the energy consumption of large language models said that, essentially, it’s more important for companies to disclose how much energy AI uses “rather than telling us we should be rude to robots.” Personally. I enjoy being rude to robots. Fuck off, ChatGPT!
In Her Footsteps: I didn’t note which issue of MIT Alumni News had this blurb from the class of 1987. The Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA) created a series of walking tours called In Her Footsteps. Each tour has 9 or 10 stops relating in some way to MIT women’s history. You can find an example on the website of the clio.com. The clio.com site looks like it has a lot of interesting tours and it would be worth some time exploring it.
By the way, when I was looking up an article about this, I ran across the statement that today “43% of MIT first year students identify as women, 44% as men.” That implies that 13% identify as something else (or, presumably, no gender) which is higher than I would have guessed. I usually see figures under 5%. Those are suspect since they come from studies by sources known to be biased, but I haven’t seen estimates higher than 10% before.
Pneumatic Tubes: An article in the July / August 2024 issue of Technology Review discussed the return of pneumatic tube systems. They are particularly common in hospitals, used for transporting samples and medications. But they are also used in factories and warehouses. There are also a handful of places that use pneumatic tubes for garbage disposal, including Roosevelt Island in New York City and Stockholm. I would never have guessed this.
Mennonites: The most recent issue of MIT Alumni News had a story about Madonna Yoder ’17 who is an origami artist, specializing in tessellations. The part of this that intrigued me is that she grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia “where professors from Virginia Tech filled the pews of her Mennonite church.” I don’t know about you, but my mental image of Mennonites is as farmers, not as college professors and certainly not at a well-respected engineering school. Not only did she go to MIT (where she got a degree in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences), but her brother got a Ph.D. in materials engineering at Virginia Tech.
The Moon: That same recent issue of MIT Alumni News (November / December 2025) had a note from a member of the class of 1976 who wrote “But what I share with my cohort is that any of us, celebrated and unsung alike, can sit with a child and look up at the brilliant full moon together and tell them, ‘Yes, it’s lovely, but you should have seen it before it was walked on.’” I literally laughed out loud at that.
I clip interesting things from magazines planning to comment on them later on. Here is an attempt to catch up on them a little bit.
From MIT Spectrum - Spring 2024: This was from an article about the problem of sustainability in the textile industry. There was the astonishing (to me, at least) information that the textile manufacturing industry produces more carbon dioxide equivalent per year than the aviation and maritime industries combined. The other astonishing tidbit was that “the average garment is worn just seven times before it ends up in a landfill.” I, for one, have been known to wear the same garment seven times in the same month. And don’t get me started on how old some of my clothing is. The other day, I was wearing a shirt that I know I bought in 1998. It is getting a bit raggedy at the cuffs, but it’s still usable for travel.
From Technology Review Reader Mailbag: I am not sure what issue this was from. Someone sent in a question asking if it’s true that if everybody just avoided words like “please,” “hello,” and so on when querying AI models, we could save a considerable amount of energy. The response from a climate reporter who had coauthored a story about the energy consumption of large language models said that, essentially, it’s more important for companies to disclose how much energy AI uses “rather than telling us we should be rude to robots.” Personally. I enjoy being rude to robots. Fuck off, ChatGPT!
In Her Footsteps: I didn’t note which issue of MIT Alumni News had this blurb from the class of 1987. The Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA) created a series of walking tours called In Her Footsteps. Each tour has 9 or 10 stops relating in some way to MIT women’s history. You can find an example on the website of the clio.com. The clio.com site looks like it has a lot of interesting tours and it would be worth some time exploring it.
By the way, when I was looking up an article about this, I ran across the statement that today “43% of MIT first year students identify as women, 44% as men.” That implies that 13% identify as something else (or, presumably, no gender) which is higher than I would have guessed. I usually see figures under 5%. Those are suspect since they come from studies by sources known to be biased, but I haven’t seen estimates higher than 10% before.
Pneumatic Tubes: An article in the July / August 2024 issue of Technology Review discussed the return of pneumatic tube systems. They are particularly common in hospitals, used for transporting samples and medications. But they are also used in factories and warehouses. There are also a handful of places that use pneumatic tubes for garbage disposal, including Roosevelt Island in New York City and Stockholm. I would never have guessed this.
Mennonites: The most recent issue of MIT Alumni News had a story about Madonna Yoder ’17 who is an origami artist, specializing in tessellations. The part of this that intrigued me is that she grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia “where professors from Virginia Tech filled the pews of her Mennonite church.” I don’t know about you, but my mental image of Mennonites is as farmers, not as college professors and certainly not at a well-respected engineering school. Not only did she go to MIT (where she got a degree in Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences), but her brother got a Ph.D. in materials engineering at Virginia Tech.
The Moon: That same recent issue of MIT Alumni News (November / December 2025) had a note from a member of the class of 1976 who wrote “But what I share with my cohort is that any of us, celebrated and unsung alike, can sit with a child and look up at the brilliant full moon together and tell them, ‘Yes, it’s lovely, but you should have seen it before it was walked on.’” I literally laughed out loud at that.
Interesting Links for 02-12-2025
Dec. 2nd, 2025 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. Cattle tuberculosis; badgers finally in the clear
- (tags:Badgers disease cows UK )
- 2. After 40 years of adventure games, Ron Gilbert pivots to outrunning Death
- (tags:games )
- 3. There are many more weight-loss drugs coming.
- (tags:weight medication )
- 4. Tales From The Multiverse (An animated short film by Tumblehead)
- (tags:video viaKenny funny dinosaurs religion creationism )
- 5. "We built a database of 290,000 English medieval soldiers - here's what it reveals"
- (tags:war military history viaZornhau )
- 6. Large surge in Scottish flu cases as new strain takes hold
- (tags:scotland flu )
- 7. Sleeping Beauty Vs the Planet of the Insomniacs
- (tags:fairytale video sleep EpicWTF )
- 8. The People Outsourcing Their Thinking to AI
- (tags:ai thinking doom )
Holidailies Intro
Dec. 1st, 2025 08:41 pmfauxkloreThe bad news is that I have a ton of catching up to do.
The good news is that I've signed up for Holidailies, so intend to post daily from December 1st through January 2nd.
It's traditional to start Holidailies with an intro, so here's one.
I'm Miriam. I starting writing an on-line journal around 1996 with Areas of Unrest and moved on to Livejournal and Dreamwidth later on. Back in those early days, I lived in Los Angeles. I moved to Northern Virginia in 2002 and still live in that area. I am vaguely thinking about retirement communities. (I've been retired for a little over 5 years now, after 35 years in the space industry.)
My great passion is travel. Depending on what you count as a country, I've been to between 93 and 125 countries and territories. I have not ignored my home country either and have been to all 50 U.S. states (plus Puerto Rico and the U.S.. Virgin Islands). And I've been to at least 18 of the 63 National Parks. (There are a couple I'm not sure about.)
Other things I do include:
I read a lot and go to the theatre. I am an unrepentant coffee snob. I love baseball and my favorite teams are the Boston Red Sox and whoever is playing against the Yankees, who I usually refer to as the Source of All Evil in the Universe.
Most of this journal is public. I do lock some entries involving my family, health, neighbors, and almost everything about the person I refer to as the Gentleman With Whom I am Conducting the World's Longest Running Brief Meaningless Fling.
And, since this is holidailies, I am Jewish. Acceptable spellings for an upcoming holiday are Chanukah and Januka (in Spanish). Hanukkah is an abomination. Also, my family always ate our potato latkes with sugar, not applesauce or sour cream.
The good news is that I've signed up for Holidailies, so intend to post daily from December 1st through January 2nd.
It's traditional to start Holidailies with an intro, so here's one.
I'm Miriam. I starting writing an on-line journal around 1996 with Areas of Unrest and moved on to Livejournal and Dreamwidth later on. Back in those early days, I lived in Los Angeles. I moved to Northern Virginia in 2002 and still live in that area. I am vaguely thinking about retirement communities. (I've been retired for a little over 5 years now, after 35 years in the space industry.)
My great passion is travel. Depending on what you count as a country, I've been to between 93 and 125 countries and territories. I have not ignored my home country either and have been to all 50 U.S. states (plus Puerto Rico and the U.S.. Virgin Islands). And I've been to at least 18 of the 63 National Parks. (There are a couple I'm not sure about.)
Other things I do include:
- crafting (mostly knitting, crochet, and various types of embroidery, but I've also done nalbinding, bobbin lace. And I do paper crafts like bookbinding and surface design, too.)
- storytelling
- genealogy
- puzzles and trivia and board games
I read a lot and go to the theatre. I am an unrepentant coffee snob. I love baseball and my favorite teams are the Boston Red Sox and whoever is playing against the Yankees, who I usually refer to as the Source of All Evil in the Universe.
Most of this journal is public. I do lock some entries involving my family, health, neighbors, and almost everything about the person I refer to as the Gentleman With Whom I am Conducting the World's Longest Running Brief Meaningless Fling.
And, since this is holidailies, I am Jewish. Acceptable spellings for an upcoming holiday are Chanukah and Januka (in Spanish). Hanukkah is an abomination. Also, my family always ate our potato latkes with sugar, not applesauce or sour cream.
Headlines About California Highways – November 2025
Dec. 1st, 2025 06:10 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
cahighways_feed
November is now in the books. This means two things: It is now less than a week away before ACSAC (Annual Computer Security Applications Conference), and holiday movies and music have started. I’m looking forward to the former, for which I’m local arrangements and registration chair (although it is a lot of work); much less so to the latter (because if one doesn’t observe Christmas, the hoopla over the holiday becomes a bit obsessive). That said, whatever holiday you are observing during this month of holidays: I hope it is happy, meaningful, and celebrated with those you love and care about.
I’m continuing to work on podcast episodes. I’ve currently working on writing the first episode on Route 12, leaving two more on Route 12, one on Route 13, and one on Route 14 to go. I’ll be getting back to the last round of updates for 2025 as soon as I get back from the conference.
We’ve started Season 4 of the podcast, and we were able to use new recording software (Zencaster) for episode. I think it sounds better, and I’m hopeful that the next episode will be even better as I now know how to adjust my microphone input better. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 36 for 4.03, 63 for 4.01 and 4.02 and 70 for 3.15), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “
”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). 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 Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:
- November | CA RxR 4.03: Route 9: Santa Cruz and Saratoga. Episode 4.03 starts a pair of episodes that explore Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. This episode (4.03) covers the current Route 9 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos; the next episode (4.04) covers the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This episode also explores the 9th State Route between Peanut and Kuntz (now Mad River), and LRN 9. LRN 9 ran all the way from Ventura to San Bernardino, and was Sign Route 118 from Ventura to Pasadena, and US 66 from Pasadena to San Bernardino. As always, we’ll talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. As noted, the next episode explores the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 from Saratoga through Milpitas to the Castro Valley. (Spotify for Podcasters)
- November | CA RxR 4.02: I-8 and US 80 Between El Cajon and the Arizona Border. This is Episode 4.02, which continues our exploration of Route 8, better known as Interstate 8. In this episode, we focus on the portion of I-8 from La Mesa (just outside of San Diego) to the Arizona border. We look at not only current I-8, but the routing of the predecessor route, US 80. We discuss the communities of La Mesa and El Cajon, Alpine and Descanso, Boulevard, the Mountain Springs Grade, Jacumba, Ocatillo (with a digression on the Imperial Highway), El Centro, Holtville and the Algondenes Dunes (with a digression on the Plank Road), Winterhaven and Yuma. We also briefly talk about the interesting routing of US 80 within Arizona, and how it differs from I-8. We talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. In the next episode, we’ll turn our attention to Route 9, which currently runs from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos, but which once ran all the way to Castro Valley. (Spotify for Podcasters)
As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and 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.
Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for November.
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
- Two Weeks After Anniversary of Fatal Malibu Crash, City Could Reject PCH Safety Improvements (Streetsblog Los Angeles). On Monday, November 3, the Malibu Planning Commission will hold a final hearing on the proposed Caltrans Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Safety Project, a $55 million plan to repave and upgrade the western portion of PCH between Cross Creek Road and the Ventura County line. Find meeting details at the bottom of this article. This PCH project has been in the works for years. Then, after a fatal crash that killed four young women standing along PCH on October 17, 2023, advocates scrambled to get Caltrans to include safety improvements along with the repaving. The project now aims to improve safety and accessibility along the corridor via a range of infrastructure updates. Proposed features include 15 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes, nearly 7,000 linear feet of new sidewalks in high-pedestrian areas including near Pepperdine University, 42 dark-sky compliant light poles, 19 guardrails, 22 curb ramps, three retaining walls, and two realigned intersections. The plan also includes median reconstruction and law enforcement pull-outs at various locations.
- Freeway vs. Highway: Yes, the Difference Matters (Readers Digest). Some road names are regional, but it’s the definitions that matter most. Life is a highway, or so the snappy song by Canadian crooner Tom Cochrane tells us. But what is a highway, exactly? And when it comes to freeways vs. highways, is there a real difference? Living in New York City means I’ve driven on many high-speed roads in the tristate area, from parkways to expressways and everything in between. And I’m here to tell you they are indeed distinct from one another. But don’t take my word for it—I’m no driving expert. (I get more parking tickets than I should and occasionally use the bus lane to pass.) Instead, I’ve tapped Nathan Huynh, PhD, a highway expert and professor of civil engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, to suss out these thoroughfare subtleties, explain regional name differences and tell us why road terms matter.
- ＄ Caltrans cuts ribbon on 395 Olancha-Cartago widening (Ridgecrest Daily Independent). There are safer travels ahead on U.S. 395 in the Owens Valley with the end of major construction on the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project. This project constructed 12.5 miles of new pavement, replacing the previous two-lane highway with a split 4-lane expressway designed to eliminate cross-centerline crashes. This is the final stretch of U.S. 395 to be converted into a 4-lane expressway in most of Inyo County. “The Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project underscores Caltrans’ safety and people-first philosophy,” said Acting District 9 Director Brandon Fitt. “Enhancing safety along this vital roadway improves the quality of life for residents of Olancha and Cartago and provides a better and more efficient travel experience for drivers.”
- Caltrans Commitment to Safety Highlighted in Completion of the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project (Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News). There are safer travels ahead on U.S. 395 in the Owens Valley with the end of major construction on the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project. This project constructed 12.5 miles of new pavement, replacing the previous two-lane highway with a split 4-lane expressway designed to eliminate cross-centerline crashes. This is the final stretch of U.S. 395 to be converted into a 4-lane expressway in most of Inyo County. “The Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project underscores Caltrans’ safety and people-first philosophy,” said Acting District 9 Director Brandon Fitt. “Enhancing safety along this vital roadway improves the quality of life for residents of Olancha and Cartago and provides a better and more efficient travel experience for drivers.” The new lanes on U.S. 395 closed the gap between existing four-lane sections to the north and south. The upgraded facility will meet future transportation demands as vehicle and freight traffic through the region continues to increase.
- Construction continues for Fanny Bridge near Lake Tahoe; nearby construction also scheduled (2 News Nevada). The Fanny Bridge construction continues in Sunnyside, California, along Lake Tahoe while crews add a permanent sewer line scheduled for Friday, November 7. During this project, cars will detour onto Lake Boulevard bypass to access State Route 89 and State Route 28. According to Caltrans, West Lake Boulevard will remain open for business and for transit center access, with only the Fanny Bridge being closed. The walking and bicycle path across the Truckee River Dam will remain open throughout the project.
- Old Woman Springs Road officially designated “High Desert State Scenic Highway” (Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree). State Route 247, known locally as Old Woman Springs Road, now has a new name. The road that connects Yucca Valley to Barstow will now by known as “High Desert State Scenic Highway.” The Homestead Valley Community Council (HVCC) received word from Caltrans that the road was officially dedicated as “scenic” by the state’s road agency on October 4. The HVCC had been campaigning for the highway to be designated as scenic, and was informed of the designation by San Bernardino County’s Land Use Services on Thursday (October 30).
- Goleta’s San Jose Creek Bridge Set for Major Replacement Project (Edhat). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will replace the San Jose Creek Bridge along State Route 217 in Goleta, the agency announced on social media on October 27, 2025. The work will require full overnight closures between Hollister Avenue and Sandspit Road on October 28, 2025, and October 30, 2025, from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. The road closures will allow for the installation of precast girders for the new bridge, the City of Goleta said in a statement. The bicycle lane will remain open during the overnight closures.
- Hwy. 1 slide update: Caltrans installs cable nets to prevent falling rocks (SLO Tribune via MSN). Crews continue making progress in stabilizing Regent’s Slide on Highway 1, Caltrans said Wednesday, giving an update on work at the troublesome cliff face that’s contributed to a nearly three-year closure along the Big Sur Coast. of that stretch of the All-American Road and National Scenic Byway. The state road agency still estimates a spring 2026 reopening for through travel from Cambria to the Monterey Bay area, maybe as early as late March. That timing depends on various influences, of course, the most significant of which is weather, because heavy rains can unleash more slides in the geologically unstable area.
- California’s Iconic, Major Interstate With Renowned Views Has Been Named America’s Busiest Highway (Yahoo! News). Similar to Interstate 95 (I-95), the East Coast’s major highway that’s considered one of America’s deadliest, the West Coast’s own Interstate 5 (I-5) stands out, not for danger, but for its sheer volume of traffic. Recently named America’s busiest highway by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), I-5 is more than just a road; it’s a lifeline connecting some of the country’s most vital regions. This 1,381-mile artery isn’t just about logistics, it’s a journey through the heart of the West Coast — and a scenic one at that. From sun-drenched beaches and bustling metropolises to sprawling farmland and snow-capped peaks, I-5 offers an unmatched visual narrative. Travelers along the Pacific Coast experience a true spectrum of the American landscape, especially between Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Ana — the stretch of area under the spotlight in this recent study.
- FasTrak® early adopters: time to update your toll tag (The Bay Link Blog). FasTrak® is the fast, cash-free way to pay tolls on Bay Area bridges and Express Lanes, and has been around since 2000. Due to technology updates, drivers with FasTrak transponders manufactured before 2019 will need to replace their old tags with new ones before the end of 2026. There is no charge to upgrade to a new FasTrak tag. FasTrak has begun to send notices to affected customers. This communication will continue into 2026. The letters confirm that no new deposit is required and that customers’ prepaid balances automatically will be linked to the new toll tag. (As always, customers are reminded that FasTrak will never request payment by text message.) [Note: We have two podcast episodes all about Fastrak: CA RxR 2.13: Bonus – Fastrak and Tolling (Part 1) and CA RxR 2.14: Bonus – Fastrak and Tolling (Part 2)].
- ＄ Pedestrian bridge back up in Benicia (Times Herald Online). After two years of waiting, the Benicia Pedestrian Bridge on Military West is once again open for the public to use. Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrated the reopening of the bridge, which had been damaged and ultimately taken down when a Republic Services garbage truck accidentally impacted the bridge in the early hours on Jan. 31, 2023. Among the dignitaries on hand to give speeches were Benicia Mayor Steve Young and Benicia City Engineer Neil Leary. Executive Assistant to the City Manager, Diana McCarley also helped organize the event and was on hand to see the ribbon cutting take place.
- ＄ Caltrans to close lane of Highway 12/121 in Schellville for monthslong bridge work (Press Democrat). A portion of one lane of Highway 121 will be closed for about four months as Caltrans conducts work on a bridge near Schellville, according to officials. Starting just after midnight Monday, workers will be replacing the railings on the Yellow Creek Bridge, which is located a few hundred feet south of the Highway 121-116 roundabout in Big Bend. The work is scheduled to end the morning of Feb. 28, according to a Caltrans news release. During the construction project, a stretch of the two-lane highway will be reduced to one-way traffic control for vehicles travelling north or south.
- ＄ The state says it wants to help Malibu make Pacific Coast Highway safer. Will the city accept its plan? (LAist). Malibu planning officials will vote on a development permit on Monday that could unlock or jeopardize nearly $55 million in state funding intended to improve Pacific Coast Highway. The California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, is proposing a two-part repavement project along the historic highway in Malibu that it said will rehabilitate the roadway, minimize the need for future maintenance work and add a series of road features that will make cyclists and pedestrians safer and more mobile. The first segment of that plan, involving work from Cross Creek Road to the Ventura County line, is what’s currently up for approval.
- ＄ Malibu officials approve state-funded project that Caltrans says will make PCH safer (LAist). Malibu planning officials voted 4-1 on Monday to approve a permit for a modified version of a state-funded plan to repave the western half of Pacific Coast Highway and add features Caltrans says will increase safety of the roadway, including sidewalks, streetlights and unprotected bike lanes. How the vote shook out: Malibu Planning Commissioner John Mazza was the sole “no” vote. Earlier in the meeting, he cast doubt on Caltrans’ assertion that installing streetlights along the historic highway will make it safer and said he didn’t want the project to include a controversial sidewalk in front of Pepperdine University. Construction for the first segment of the two-part road rehabilitation project, extending from Cross Creek Road to the county line, is set to begin next spring and finish at the end of 2028.
- Nov. 12: Community Meeting I-5 North County Enhancement Project | 11-04-2025 (SCVNews). Santa Clarita Valley residents are invited to attend a virtual community meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 12 to learn about upcoming construction activities along the I-5 freeway. All Santa Clarita Valley and North Los Angeles County residents, business owners and commuters are invited to attend a project overview, a timeline of upcoming construction activities over the next 2-3 months and the opportunity to ask questions and address concerns with project management staff.
- Traffic Advisory: Caltrans Bridge Replacement on Hwy 121 Begins November 3, 2025 (City of Sonoma). Caltrans has announced that one-way traffic control will be in effect on State Route 121 south of Big Bend from Monday, November 3, 2025, through Saturday, February 28, 2026, to replace the bridge railings on the Yellow Creek Bridge in the Schellville area of Sonoma County. The work zone is located several hundred feet south of the newly opened Highway 116/121 Roundabout at Big Bend. During construction, the two-lane roadway will be reduced to a single lane, with northbound and southbound traffic alternating through the area under signal control. Motorists are advised to expect minor delays and to allow additional travel time, especially during commute hours.
- Caltrans reduces parking in front of Descanso Junction and nearby businesses despite community concerns (East County Magazine). The California Department of Transportation removed several parking spaces in front of Descanso Junction Restaurant and nearby businesses in late October, amounting to approximately a two-thirds reduction. The speed limit along state Route 79 was also reduced from 55 to 45 mph along that stretch of highway, which leads to Guatay, Pine Valley, Cuyamaca, Mt. Laguna, Julian and other backcountry mountain communities. Signs were installed on the shoulders to remind motorists that parking is never allowed on the state highway shoulder, except for emergency situations and emergency vehicles. Residents are not happy. Some say the reduction in speed limit is not enough, while the reduction in parking spaces is too much. The timing of the changes is also concerning to residents. Caltrans says the changes were made due to a January, 2021 incident resulting in serious injuries that occurred at the Descanso Junction, when a vehicle traveling south on SR-79 struck two teenaged pedestrians.
- ↈ California’s Other Great Highway Is Still Worth the Drive (Sidetrack Adventures via MSN). Route 66 gets the fame, but Historic Highway 80 brought in even more dreamers. From arid desert terrain to pine-covered mountain roads and city landmarks, this legendary road still offers plenty for road-trippers to discover. Here are 15 places you shouldn’t miss while tracing this overlooked piece of Americana.
- Malibu officials approve state-funded project that Caltrans says will make PCH safer (LAist via MSN). How the vote shook out: Malibu Planning Commissioner John Mazza was the sole “no” vote. Earlier in the meeting, he cast doubt on Caltrans’ assertion that installing streetlights along the historic highway will make it safer and said he didn’t want the project to include a controversial sidewalk in front of Pepperdine University.
- Slope Stabilization Work Continues at Regent’s Slide as Caltrans Targets March 2026 Reopening (Edhat). Caltrans District 5 said on November 5, 2025, that crews have begun installing cable-net drapery and new monitoring prisms at the Regent’s Slide site as work continues to reopen Highway 1 by the end of March 2026. Crew is working daily to assess slope conditions and determine safe excavation depths. The slide originated about 450 feet above the roadway. The Regent’s Slide repairs began on February 9, 2024, and have since led to the closure of Highway 1 in Monterey County.
- Kettleman roundabout plans on Highway 41 and Bernard Drive underway (ABC30 Fresno). Changes are coming to the Gateway to the Coast highway in Kings County. Increasing safety and helping traffic flow smoothly is the goal of the Kettleman Roundabout Project on Bernard Drive and Highway 41. It’s something Kings County Supervisor Doug Verboon says is needed. “During the holiday season, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, you can’t get through Kettleman City. It’s important to make sure we keep traffic flowing, so it really plugs up the community that lives there and our fire station as well. So for safety, it’s nice to keep traffic flowing,” explains Verboon.
- ＄ New Hwy. 50 interchange near Sacramento would cost $182M (Sacramento Bee). Rancho Cordova’s City Council voted last month to move forward with a decade-old proposal to build a new $182 million Highway 50 interchange in the three-mile stretch between the Hazel Avenue and Sunrise Boulevard ramps. The project planning phases are expected to continue throughout 2026 and are not yet finalized. The city has already budgeted for it in a multi-year Capital Improvement Plan.
- ＄ Opinion | The Promise of the Bronx River Parkway (The New York Times). The Bronx River Parkway officially opened a century ago this month. It was the first modern highway in the world: a limited-access scenic motorway designed for recreational driving. It unleashed the automobile, and helped put America on the road. Where it ultimately led — a nation of cars, economic dislocation, pollution, an insatiable thirst for oil — would have astonished its planners. They simply meant to set the motor car in a stage-set landscape reminiscent of America’s rural past. At first, the parkway had nothing to do with cars. In the late 19th century, the Bronx River, once idyllic, had become a trash-filled sewer, its polluted water sickening the animals as it flowed through the Bronx Zoo. In 1905, a local philanthropist proposed cleaning its banks and turning them into a linear park. [Although the article is about New York, it is relevant to California as it explores the early development of parkways and their impacts on communities, esp. communities of color.]
- El Camino Real upgrade could cost $30M-$50M in Millbrae (San Mateo Daily Journal). Constructing a long-term plan to revamp El Camino Real across the entirety of San Mateo County could cost roughly $30 million to $50 million in the Millbrae section alone, local transportation agency representatives told Millbrae councilmembers. Representatives from SamTrans, the county’s bus service, Caltrans, the agency that owns and maintains El Camino Real and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority spoke during the Millbrae City Council meeting Oct. 28, to share a high-level plan for the future of the road across the county. That plan, termed the Grand Boulevard Initiative, is attempting to coordinate various El Camino Real renewal efforts in 12 different cities, will likely cost $750 million total and take up to a decade to fully complete, SamTrans Director of Planning Millie Tolleson said.
- The 5 freeway is closed again this weekend as $100M project continues (KPBS Public Media). A section of Interstate 5 in San Diego will be closed starting Friday night and through the weekend as part of the Asset Management Project, which Caltrans calls an effort to preserve existing infrastructure and improve safety. The closure will take place from 9 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday. Routes from I-5 south will be closed off at state Route 52 to the Mission Bay Drive on-ramp, according to Caltrans. Gilman Drive and eastbound La Jolla Village Drive will be closed. Motorists traveling south of Gilman will be detoured onto SR-52 east.
- State Route 4 Wagon Trail Project Phase 1 Complete (My Mother Lode). Calaveras County leaders held a ribbon-cutting yesterday afternoon, touting the completion of Phase I of the State Route 4 Wagon Trail Project. That section of the highway is between Copperopolis and Angels Camp, from Bonanza Mine Way to Stockton Road, a total of about 6 miles. The county and Caltrans District 10 celebrated these new safety features, with state road officials noting that it is now “a roadway with a lot more shoulder room, along with fewer dips and curves.” Crews working in July reported here had the section from the Apple Blossom and Dam Road area, Bonanza Mine Way to Appaloosa Road, and along the two miles to Brice Station Road under one-way traffic control for that shoulder work.
- Daytime Full Road Closures Scheduled on Agoura Road for Stage 2 of Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing Project (Caltrans). Caltrans announces upcoming daytime full road closures on Agoura Road between Rondell Street and Hydepark Drive in the city of Agoura Hills as crews begin Stage 2 construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. Stage 2 will complete the connection points from the north and south sides of the newly built bridge over U.S. 101 and finalize all landscaping work. Construction is anticipated to be concluded by late 2026.
- ＄ Part of southbound I-5 will be closed this weekend in San Diego (San Diego Union-Tribune). Southbound drivers will have to make alternative arrangements for driving into San Diego along Interstate 5 beginning Friday night and lasting through the weekend, state transportation officials say. The popular freeway will be closed heading south from state Route 52 to Mission Bay Drive beginning at 9 p.m. and remain closed to traffic through 5 a.m. Monday as part of an ongoing road improvement program, Caltrans said. “The project will rehabilitate pavement along the main roadway, shoulders and freeway ramps to extend the service life of the existing pavement,” state transportation officials said in a statement. “Beyond resurfacing, the project incorporates a broad range of upgrades to improve performance, safety and environmental conservation,” they added. The weekend-long shutdown will not affect northbound traffic. Southbound service along Metropolitan Transit System bus routes will continue uninterrupted, as will trolley service in the area.
- Public Workshop On 101/135 (North Broadway) Interchange Project (Edhat). The City of Santa Maria invites the community to attend a public workshop to learn about and provide input on the proposed Highway 101/State Route 135 (North Broadway) Interchange Replacement Project, being developed in coordination with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG).
- California tested orange highway stripes — The results prove yellow lines may be history (Eco News). These orange highway stripes may debut in California, which could be the end of the classic yellow lines. Road traffic safety interventions are constantly underway, being piloted and tested in order to investigate increasingly innovative ways to keep all road users safe. While changes to driving laws and increasing unlawful driving conviction penalties are effective at reducing instances of road traffic accidents, these are not the only solutions to making the roads safer. This year alone has seen numerous new driving legislations being passed by local authorities, with many pertaining to harsher driving convictions and penalties. Tightening driving laws is often a resort that authorities are forced into when drivers continue to not take on a motive of personal responsibility to protect their fellow road users. As such, authorities need to threaten drivers with harsh penalties and convictions if they choose to continue to disobey the laws of the road.
- Calaveras officials celebrate completion of Phase 1 of State Route 4 ‘Wagon Trail’ realignment (Citizen Portal). Calaveras County officials and regional partners on the morning of the ceremony gathered in Angels Camp to mark completion of Phase 1 of the State Route 4 Wagon Trail realignment. Supervisor Martin Heberty, who served as county board chair, said the project has been a long community goal and praised the multiple agencies and staff who brought the work to fruition. “This project has been around practically that long,” said Martin Heberty, Chair of the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, referring to decades of planning and community support. Heberty noted the Wagon Trail realignment is important to local tourism and safety and introduced Calaveras County Public Works Director Micah Martin to describe the project details.
- California Dominates List Of America’s 100 Deadliest Highways (Study Finds). California claims three of the 10 most dangerous highways in America, including the top spot, according to an analysis of federal crash data that reveals where fatal collisions are happening most frequently across the nation.
- Express lanes set to open in December (The Reporter via MSN). Commuters on Interstate 80 may have noticed a change in the signs that have been in place for months in anticipating of opening new Express Lanes through Solano County. An electronic message now reminds motorists that the lanes will open in December. In preparation for the opening, Express Lanes drivers are being encouraged to sign up with FasTrak to use the lanes. All drivers must have FasTrak to use the lanes, once they open.
- The Dreamy 130-Mile Drive In California Perfect For Your Next Weekend Adventure (Family Destination Guide). California hides a secret paradise between its towering mountains, and it’s not where you’d expect. The Feather River National Scenic Byway in Plumas County delivers 130 miles of pure scenic ecstasy that will make you question why you’ve been wasting weekends binge-watching shows when this natural masterpiece exists.
- ＄ LAX officials vote unanimously to build new road into airport (LAist). The governing board of LAX voted unanimously Thursday to appropriate more than $1 billion to build long-planned elevated roadways officials said will separate airport-bound vehicles from local traffic. Supporters say the roadways will make it safer and more efficient to get in and out of LAX. “We have multiple paths in and out of the airport, and each and one of those creates pinch points and traffic jams, particularly along Sepulveda [Boulevard],” Emery Molnar, an LAX executive, said to the airport Board of Commissioners before the vote.
- ＄ Oakland’s rules against heavy trucks on I-580 are back under review (Mercury News). For seven decades, California has banned heavy trucks from driving Interstate 580 between Oakland and San Leandro, a rule upheld by public officials even as it diverted industrial pollution to some of the area’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. But state transportation officials are now diving into the precise details of what removing the longstanding ban on vehicles over 4.5 tons — or 9,000 pounds — would mean for the region’s environment, including its air quality and noise pollution. The undertaking is expected to study traffic patterns, examine racial equity and conduct health assessments to understand how the ban affects community life. There is no timeline for completion. Beyond the new research endeavor, there isn’t yet much political momentum around lifting the ban.
- ＄ Inside the delightfully quirky world of Muni and BART super-nerds (SF Standard). They show up to Halloween parties dressed as BART trains and stuff Muni-branded beanies into holiday stockings. Some vie for glory by trying to race through every station as quickly as possible. Others immortalize their favorite trains in paint, deli menus, or anime fan art. Yes, we’re talking about the niche community of transit superfans who view these systems as way more than a way to get around. Forget Brat Summer; for these folks, it’s BART all year round. At a moment when Bay Area transit agencies are still clawing back riders and revenue since the pandemic slump, this quirky fandom is thriving. To these subway stans, a train isn’t just a train; it’s a symbol of civic pride, nostalgia, and the weird magic of living here.
- ＄ San Mateo County Transportation Authority advances 101-adjacent improvement projects (San Mateo Daily Journal). The San Mateo County Transportation Authority is narrowing down a handful of projects near Highway 101 as part of an initiative to reduce congestion and improve safer non-vehicle travel options in the area. The 101 Corridor Connect program is meant to connect various local, state and federal agencies on projects along the highway within about a 1-mile radius. While focused in San Mateo County, the effort is part of a larger regional project, spearheaded by Caltrans, that would make improvements along Highway 101 from Santa Clara County up to San Francisco. The TA, which administers the county’s transportation-allocated sales tax revenue, narrowed down a list of top-priority projects in the northern and middle parts of the county, such as improvements on Oyster Point Boulevard, Grand Avenue and the Millbrae Caltrain station. They also include improvements along El Camino Real, part of another large-scale long-awaited effort called the Grand Boulevard Initiative, which range from less-resource-intensive projects to more capital-intensive initiatives, such as bike lane additions, vehicle lane reductions and bus shelter upgrades.
- Bay Bridge troll legend grows decades after installation (SF Examiner). San Francisco is home to many legends, between its larger-than-life historical figures to the lore passed down about its landmarks since its founding. Bill Roan, a blacksmith and metal worker based in the East Bay, added to this rich tapestry in 1989 following the Loma Prieta earthquake by leaning on the themes of fairy tales of old — gifting a protector to the Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge troll, as it became known, stands around 2 feet tall, with webbed feet and a long tongue. Roan crafted the creature at the request of Howard Stoltz, whose company repaired the earthquake-damaged bridge, as a way to thank the workers who raced to repair the bridge in the weeks after the historic ‘quake. “I really wasn’t interested, because I pretty much knew Caltrans would never let me put a sculpture on the bridge, but when I was meeting with [Stoltz], three of his workers walked by,” Roan said. “They were just dragging. They had been doing double shifts, and it took a month after the earthquake to rebuild the bridge.”
- ＄ Express lanes set to open in December (The Vacaville Reporter). Commuters on Interstate 80 may have noticed a change in the signs that have been in place for months in anticipating of opening new Express Lanes through Solano County. An electronic message now reminds motorists that the lanes will open in December. In preparation for the opening, Express Lanes drivers are being encouraged to sign up with FasTrak to use the lanes. All drivers must have FasTrak to use the lanes, once they open. CalTrans and the Solano Transportation Authority (STA) began construction of the Solano I-80 Express Lanes project in May, 2022, a three-year $244 million project to add express lanes on Interstate 80 between Red Top Road in Fairfield and the Leisure Town Road in Vacaville just east of the I-80/I-580 Interchange. The project, two new 18-mile express lanes — one eastbound and one westbound — will bring congestion relief and encouraging transit use and carpooling in the busy corridor, CalTrans officials noted. The lanes will operate seven days a week, from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. with tolls shown on overhead signs along the highway and increase as traffic increases and decreases as traffic decreases.
- This treacherous Calif. highway is getting worse (SF Gate). “Open to Wrightwood,” read the metal road sign along Angeles Crest Highway just before the popular Switzer Falls Trailhead. Or, I think that’s what it was supposed to say. The sign was equipped with a slider that could be easily moved to cover the words “open” or “closed,” and on Tuesday, it was stuck in the middle, not quite one or the other. It was an apt — if accidental — metaphor for the precarious status of LA’s unlikely mountain highway. The two-lane roadway, which climbs more than 7,000 feet over 66 miles, stretches from the suburb of La Cañada Flintridge, just 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles, to the tiny unincorporated mountain town of Wrightwood in San Bernardino County.
- ＄ LAX approved $1.5 billion to relieve traffic. Opponents say it won’t work. (Los Angeles Times). The countdown to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games has sent Los Angeles International Airport into a $1.5-billion sprint to rebuild its roads, drawing ire from critics who argue the plan leaves the airport’s most infamous bottleneck — the “horseshoe” — largely untouched. Los Angeles World Airports Board of Airport Commissioners on Thursday approved the final $1-billion phase of spending for its new roadway improvement plan, which aims to streamline traffic flow at airport entrances and exits and reduce jams on public roads like Sepulveda and Century boulevards. It’s set to be complete just two months before the world arrives in 2028. Opponents assert the effort will not relieve airport traffic, and could even make it worse.
- 55-hour Closure Scheduled on State Route 160 in Delta Region (Caltrans). Caltrans is advising motorists of pavement repair work for State Route 160 (Hwy 160) in the delta region south of Rio Vista to repair a sinkhole on the highway. An extended weekend closure is needed to complete the necessary repairs requiring additional roadway space. Caltrans urges motorists to allow extra travel time to reach their destinations and to expect a lengthy detour. Due to the limited width of the lanes and shoulders, to ensure safety for workers and motorists the construction work will require a 55-hour weekend closure for Hwy160 beginning at the Antioch Bridge in San Joaquin County to State Highway 12 in Sacramento County.
- Caltrans considering lifting I-580 truck ban in East Bay due to pollution, traffic concerns (ABC7 San Francisco). The stretch of freeway where trucks are banned runs through heavily populated areas of Oakland and San Leandro. Instead of using Interstate 580, trucks have been forced to use Interstate 880 to travel through the area. It’s a route that Brian Beaveridge of the West Oakland Environmental Impacts Project says has a history of discrimination. “In the beginning, there was clearly a race element. Who had the most political power? And it was more affluent white people who had that power,” he said. Studies show people living along the I-880 corridor have been exposed to higher levels of pollution and have elevated rates of asthmatic health issues compared to those living along I-580.
- Caltrans Opens Temporary Detour on State Route 36 Near Fredonyer Summit (SierraDailyNews). CalTrans announced Great news, travelers! The temporary detour on State Route 36 near Fredonyer Summit (Lassen County) is now OPEN without traffic control! Speed reminders: Eastbound: 20 MPH Westbound: 25 MPH The old section of the road is abandoned and closed to the public. Caltrans is continuing work on a long-term solution for the area. Huge thanks to Tullis, Inc. and our Caltrans crews for getting this detour ready ahead of winter! Safe travels!
- Wildfire Repairs Continue On SoCal’s SR 27 (Construction Eqpt Guide). Repairs continue in the wake of landslides that devastated neighborhoods and heavily damaged roads maintained by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) after the wildfires around Los Angeles in early 2025. One of the ongoing initiatives to repair the damage is the Topanga Canyon Boulevard/State Route 27 Palisades Fire Emergency Repairs project. The $59.5 million initiative, whose costs are expected to increase, is financed by state emergency funds. Estimates target completion in 2026, depending upon the weather and other conditions. Caltrans awarded the emergency work contract to Flo Engineering.
- ＄ A sculpture honoring movies takes shape on the 101 freeway median in East Hollywood (Daily News). If you drive on the 101 Freeway in Los Angeles, you’re bound to see the new 22-foot-tall sculpture of three huge filmstrips made in galvanized steel. The sculpture is part of the U.S. Route 1010 Lankershim to Beaudry Beautification Project which is part of the larger Clean California initiative to beautify state highways. The new artwork is on a median on 101 south of Melrose Avenue in East Hollywood. It depicts three panels of filmstrips to represent the Hollywood film industry, and set in a wave-like motion to reflect the flow of traffic. The $5.87 million project included improved landscaped areas around the on-ramps and off-ramps and slopes along 8.7 miles of the 101 between Lankershim Boulevard and North Beaudry Avenue. The landscaping improvements were completed last year, and the filmstrip art sculpture is the last element, according to Colleen Park, Public Information Officer for Caltrans District 7.
- A major California highway is sliding toward the sea. There is no quick fix (SF Chronicle via MSN). Rattled by earthquakes. Pummeled by wind and rain. Buried in landslides. This 3-mile stretch of Highway 101 atop a cliff in California’s far north careens through old growth redwood forests and across an earthen river of dirt and rock that is constantly shifting downslope toward crashing waves. For more than a century, Del Norte County residents have called it Last Chance Grade, though no one recalls who coined the foreboding name. A freshly paved road should last seven to 10 years, but not here. Six months is about the limit before jagged cracks, bubbling asphalt and falling rocks threaten motorists navigating sharp, treacherous turns. “Come out in March after a tough storm – it’s a war zone out here,” said Clayton Malmberg, a construction engineer with Caltrans whose sisyphean job is to keep Last Chance Grade from falling into the sea.
- Ħ Hollywood Freeway (Josephine Lily Brown via FB). The Hollywood Freeway is considered one of the most important freeways in the history of Los Angeles and it is the second oldest freeway in Los Angeles (after the Arroyo Seco Parkway).
July, 1947 - Solano County I-80 Express Lanes operations to start in mid-December (The Bay Link Blog). Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) staff today advised members of the Bay Area Infrastructure Finance Authority Network and Operations Committee that the new Express Lanes on Interstate 80 through Fairfield and Vacaville are scheduled to begin operations Tuesday, Dec. 16. The 18-mile stretch of I-80 between Red Top Road in Fairfield and Interstate 505 in Vacaville currently operates with traditional carpool lanes in both the eastbound and westbound directions. Express Lane rules include:
- ＄ Highway 1: One last closure as Rocky Creek project nearly finished (The Mercury News). Caltrans says another full overnight closure of Highway 1 will allow crews to complete the final phases of the Rocky Creek Seawall Project, which remains on schedule to be finished by Monday. Beginning Sunday at 10 p.m., the highway will be closed to through traffic in both directions at the Rocky Creek Bridge, about 12 miles south of Carmel, and will completely reopen Monday at 6 a.m. “The final phase of the seawall project entails dismantling the scaffolding and using a crane to lift that material and one mini-excavator back up to the roadway,” said Caltrans District 5 spokesperson Celeste Morales. “The project is currently in its demobilization stage.” During the closure, construction crews will finalize project demobilization and complete finishing work at the site. Heavy equipment will be staged across both lanes, and no through traffic will be permitted during work hours. Travelers are advised to plan ahead and avoid the area during this temporary closure. Caltrans said that this milestone marks the peak of extensive work to strengthen the seawall and enhance long-term stability along this critical section of Highway 1.
- ＄ Caltrans commits to next phase of Tiburon Boulevard upgrades (Marin I-J). Caltrans will move ahead with a second phase of upgrading Tiburon Boulevard. The transit agency will repave the Tiburon Peninsula’s main thoroughfare next year and add pedestrian improvements and bike lanes — except for excluding the lanes on a mile-long stretch between Trestle Glen Boulevard and Blackfield Drive. The decision by Caltrans over the summer to exclude bike lanes from that stretch was controversial, pitting cycling advocates against local officials who oversaw school bus service and public transit. Other bike lane opponents included residents who feared they would add to traffic congestion. At the time, Caltrans said it would split the project into two phases and pledged the second phase would begin with public forums and convening a task force where improvements, such as paved islands for school bus stops and additional upgrades to bike lanes, could be discussed.
- Indianola Undercrossing (Caltrans District 1 via FB). TWO-WAY UP HIGH AT INDIANOLA: Northbound and southbound traffic is now moving on the raised U.S. 101 section of the new Indianola Undercrossing, a major milestone in improving safety along our busiest stretch between Eureka and Arcata. This undercrossing replaces an intersection that once had a significantly higher-than-average collision rate.
- PCH Roundabouts (Westside Current via FB). Two new “quick-build” roundabouts are coming to Pacific Coast Highway at Encinal Canyon Road and El Matador Beach Road, with construction expected to begin in early 2026. The $1.2 million project aims to slow traffic, improve safety, and ease congestion along one of Malibu’s busiest stretches. Construction will take about 90 days with intermittent lane closures, according to the city.
- ＄ Malibu PCH to Get Two “Quick-Build” Roundabouts by Late Summer (Westside Current). By the end of next summer, Pacific Coast Highway will have two new roundabouts at Encinal Canyon Road and El Matador Beach Road, with construction and intermittent lane closures expected to begin in early 2026. The “quick-build” roundabouts are designed to test or accelerate safety improvements before permanent changes are made. Construction is expected to take about 90 days, with lane closures as needed, according to the city of Malibu. The $1.2 million project aims to reduce speeds, ease traffic flow, and improve accessibility as part of broader efforts to enhance safety along the highway, according to Caltrans. In 2015, the city of Malibu and the Southern California Association of Governments conducted a safety study on PCH to examine road conditions, identify accident patterns, and develop strategies to reduce collisions. The study offered 130 recommendations for safety improvements along the corridor, including three proposed roundabouts at Civic Center Way, Decker Canyon Road, and Encinal Canyon Road. El Matador Beach Road was not originally considered for a roundabout, according to the report. The city is currently accepting public comments on the project through its website, where residents can share feedback and concerns. Once the comment periods close, Caltrans will finalize design details and coordinate with Malibu officials to begin construction.
- State Route 1/Pacific Coast Highway Quick-Build Roundabouts (Caltrans). The City of Malibu has proposed two quick-build roundabouts on PCH/State Route 1 (SR-1) in coordination with Caltrans. This pilot project will install temporary roundabouts at PCH intersections with Encinal Canyon Road and El Matador Beach Road. The project aims to calm traffic, improve pedestrian safety, and add dedicated bike lanes to help assess the feasibility of permanent roundabouts.
- Northbound Traffic Shifts to One Lane on Indianola Undercrossing Bridge as Realignment Continues (Redheaded Blackbelt). Northbound drivers on Highway 101 between Eureka and Arcata encountered new congestion this morning as traffic was shifted onto a single lane over the new Indianola Undercrossing bridge—mirroring what southbound motorists experienced yesterday. This week, Caltrans crews have been rerouting traffic onto the new overcrossing as paving permits as part of a major realignment project intended to improve long-standing safety issues along the busy corridor. The initial change Tuesday morning brought heavy backups, with stop-and-go traffic stretching through the morning commute until the second southbound lane opened around 9:30 a.m.
- Regents Slide Update (Caltrans District 5 via FB). Update on Regents Slide.
- Three-Week Closure Scheduled for State Route 49 (Caltrans). Caltrans is alerting motorists of a scheduled three-week full closure of State Route 49 (SR 49) in Auburn at the intersection of Lincoln Way/Borland Avenue as part of the $13.1 million American Canyon Roundabout Project. Crews are scheduled to close the intersection starting at 6 a.m. Monday, December 1 for construction of the roundabout. The closure will extend south along SR 49 to the American River Confluence and remain in place with a detour available through 6 a.m. Monday, December 22. Motorists will also encounter a temporary three-way traffic signal at the intersection of Foresthill Road and Old Foresthill Road during this time.
- Caltrans completes left-turn ban at deadly intersection near Lompoc (Santa Maria Times). Caltrans has finished the first phase of a long-planned safety overhaul at one of Lompoc’s most dangerous intersections, permanently eliminating left turns from Santa Lucia Canyon Road onto northbound Highway 1. The restriction, completed in recent weeks, follows a deadly history at the crossing. A December 2024 wet-weather crash killed 19-year-old Asher Linden Tenud of Santa Maria and critically injured Lompoc resident Krissy Partlow. A separate November 2024 collision injured six people. Drivers exiting Santa Lucia Canyon Road must now turn right only toward Lompoc, or continue to the Constellation Road exit to make a legal U-turn for northbound travel. “Right-turn maneuvers from Santa Lucia Canyon Road onto southbound Highway 1 are still allowed,” Caltrans District 5 spokesman Kevin Drabinski said Friday. “No additional turn restrictions are currently being considered.”
- Highway 78 bridge demolition to cause overnight closures (Fox 5 San Diego). A portion of a major highway in northern San Diego County will be fully closed overnight from Tuesday through Sunday as crews demolish parts of the Mar Vista Drive bridge during ongoing construction work. The work has been ongoing since May 2025 to improve a 17.7-mile portion of Highway 78 from Interstate 5 in Oceanside to Broadway and Lincoln Parkway in Escondido, part of the $126 million Caltrans SR-78 Asset Management Project.
- Caltrans considering eliminating truck ban on I-580 in Oakland (CDL Life). Currently, commercial trucks are banned on the stretch of Interstate 580 through Oakland, California, and San Leandro, California. This forces semi trucks to use nearby Interstate 880, which has increased pollution for residents along that route. Now, Caltrans is studying the potential effects of eliminating the truck ban on I-580. According to ABC 7, People living along the I-880 corridor have higher exposure to pollution and have more frequent asthmatic health issues compared to people living along I-580.
- Caltrans project reshapes Friars Road with new bike lanes, freeway ramps (ABC 10 News). Drivers on a busy stretch of Friars Road in San Diego’s Grantville neighborhood have grown accustomed to morning backups and orange construction barrels since last September, when Caltrans began a major infrastructure project at the entrances to Interstate 8 and Interstate 15. “The project scope, overall scope of the work, is to reconfigure a couple of the on and off ramps that go onto I-15,” Caltrans North Coast Corridor Director Victor Mercado said.
- RM3 toll dollars assist State Route 84/I-680 Interchange improvement project (The Bay Link Blog). The Alameda County Transportation Commission and Caltrans held a ribbon cutting ceremony this week to celebrate the completion of the State Route 84 Expressway Modernization and State Route 84/Interstate 680 Interchange improvement project. The project delivers major upgrades that improve traffic operations, relieve congestion, and enhance safety along a vital route connecting the Tri-Valley and South Bay regions The project was funded in part by $85 million from Regional Measure 3 (RM 3), which is administered by MTC’s Bay Area Toll Authority. To help solve the Bay Area’s growing congestion problems, voters in June 2018 approved RM 3 with 55% overall approval to finance a $4.45 billion slate of highway and transit improvements through an increase of tolls on the region’s seven state-owned toll bridges.
- Route 6 Tour (Route 6 Tourist Assn via FB). Route 6 has a new home! We’ve moved our primary website to Route6Tour.com to give travelers and partners a clearer, more organized experience. If your site links to us, updating those links helps keep Route 6 resources accurate and fully accessible.
- 19th Avenue (State Route 1) Rehabilitation Project Begins Monday, December 1 (Caltrans). Caltrans will start 19th Avenue Rehabilitation Project. This will restore and improve one of San Francisco’s busiest corridors. Phase 1 construction is scheduled to begin Monday, December 1, 2025, at Sloat Boulevard, moving north toward Lincoln Way.
- Map shows where 18 miles of toll lanes are coming to Bay Area highway (SFGate via MSN). Another stretch of Bay Area highway is adding express lanes, where drivers with the means can pay to access their own lane and speed past traffic. On Dec. 16, 18 miles of Interstate 80 in Solano County are slated to activate tolls on an express lane in the east- and westbound directions. The toll lanes start at Red Top Road in Fairfield and extend to Interstate 505, near the Nut Tree, in Vacaville – a notoriously gridlocked section of I-80. The express lanes will be active from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, including weekends. Prices will fluctuate throughout the day depending on traffic. According to 511, Bay Area express lanes typically cost 50 cents to $15, although drivers have seen tolls hit $20 on occasion.
- Work begins on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge open road tolling project (The Bay Link Blog). Changes are coming soon to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge toll plaza, the first of the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA)-managed bridges to be transformed as part of a multi-year conversion to Open Road Tolling (ORT). Pre-construction work is set to begin this week, weather permitting. Visit the Caltrans District 4 website for additional details on the construction schedule. ORT is the future for all toll bridge plazas in the Bay Area – and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge will be the first to see the transition to ORT. ORT uses advanced technology to read FasTrak® toll tags without the need to slow down and go through toll booths. Overhead equipment can read the toll tags as vehicles travel at highway speeds.
- California’s favorite I-5 stop about to become major construction zone (SFGate). Holiday travelers traversing California on Interstate 5 will have the chance to take a break at one of the state’s most popular stopover destinations on the eve of a project that is expected to leave the area unrecognizable by this time next year. Kettleman City — a pullout that for many marks the unofficial halfway point between Los Angeles and San Francisco — has amenities motorists now seek out from the many notable choices on California’s most-traveled interstate. For starters, there’s one of the most frequented, if not most popular, In-N-Outs in the land, next to a giant Tesla charging station that features sweeping, and perhaps isolating, east-facing views of the Central Valley.
- Drivers remain rolling as roundabout at Big Bend awaits final touches (Northern California Public Media). Bumper to bumper, stop and go, could a roundabout cure your traffic woes? That’s the bet south of Sonoma, where Caltrans has rolled out a new roundabout at the consistently jammed-up intersection of Highways 121 and 116. The familiar four-way stop in Big Bend where the two state routes meet is no more. The gas station, hotel and other business haven’t gone anywhere, but the stops signs have, and in their place: a roundabout. “The reception for the roundabout has been positive, very positive,” said Jeff Weiss. “In fact, we opened the roundabout partially in January of 2025…and motorist took right to it. It was almost like it had always been there.”
- ＄ Construction begins on new Vallejo State Route 37/Fairgrounds Interchange Project (Times Herald Online). The Solano Transportation Authority along with the California Department of Transportation has started construction work on the new State Route 37/Fairgrounds Drive Interchange Project in Vallejo. The interchange improvement project aims to enhance motorist safety and improve bicycle and pedestrian access with construction of a new divergent diamond interchange. This is the first-ever divergent diamond interchange constructed in the Bay Area and only the second-ever constructed on a major highway in California. Construction at SR 37 and Fairgrounds Drive started construction in April. In May traffic in both directions was shifted to the west side of SR 37 and a temporary pedestrian walkway was constructed. Beginning mid-December, traffic will be shifted to the east side of SR 37, under the freeway. Weather permitting, the following construction-related activities are scheduled to happen in mid-December, 2025.
- Caltrans to start yearlong 19th Avenue repaving project (KTVU FOX 2). Caltrans crews on Monday will start a yearlong repaving project that will prompt lane closures on San Francisco’s 19th Avenue, which also serves as state Highway 1 in the city. The work will begin on 19th Avenue at Sloat Boulevard and proceed north toward Lincoln Way at Golden Gate Park, then will go back south from Lincoln to Sloat. Caltrans officials said two lanes will always be open and one lane closed in the direction of the repaving work, and that people should find alternate routes during peak commute hours.
- Grant Secured to Study the State Route 135 (Broadway) Corridor (Edhat). A $160,000 state grant will help local transportation agencies begin an 18-month study of safety, congestion, and mobility along State Route 135 (also known as Broadway) between Orcutt and Santa Maria. California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) awarded the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) and the City of Santa Maria the Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant as part of a statewide investment of $26.5 million to help communities plan smarter, safer transportation projects.
- ‘A safer, more efficient route’: Highway 84-Interstate 680 interchange improvements complete (Pleasanton Weekly). State and local leaders came together last week to celebrate the completion of the Highway 84-Interstate 680 interchange upgrades in Sunol, lauding the years-long investment to improve commute and safety conditions through the Tri-Valley for the following decades. The nearly $244 million project, which first started more than 10 years ago, represented the final step in bringing the state’s Highway 84 up to expressway standards between I-580 in Livermore and I-680 in Sunol – “strengthening connectivity for commuters, freight, and regional travelers”, Caltrans officials said. Caltrans District 4 Acting Director David Abuehl called the project “a tremendous investment in regional mobility and safety” in a press release issued after the Nov. 17 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
- Dangerous Driving Behaviors On Highway 74 Prompt Action In Riverside County (Temecula, CA Patch). The dangerous driving behaviors of some motorists on winding state Route 74, between Palm Desert and Idyllwild, have prompted the California Highway Patrol to step up enforcement efforts ahead of busy holiday travel. In a news release Monday, Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez and State Assemblymembers Greg Wallis and Jeff Gonzalez said they have worked with the CHP to secure additional enforcement.
- New Alignment Announced for SR 51 American River Bridge Rehabilitation in Sacramento (Construction Owners). A major traffic shift is coming to State Route 51 (Business 80/Capital City Freeway) as Caltrans prepares the next phase of its $239.5 million American River Bridge Rehabilitation Project. The agency announced that northbound drivers will be moved to a new alignment beginning late Sunday night into early Monday morning, marking a significant milestone in the multi-year upgrade. The traffic adjustment is needed to provide crews a protected workspace. The final layout will include K-rail barriers along the right shoulder, allowing safe access for workers who are rebuilding the bridge’s barrier overhang and constructing a new multi-use bike and pedestrian path. According to Caltrans, the switch will occur during overnight hours to minimize disruption. Crews are scheduled to work from 10 p.m. Sunday, November 23 through 5 a.m. Monday, November 24 to implement the change.
- Caltrans to start yearlong 19th Avenue repaving project (KTVU FOX 2). Caltrans crews on Monday will start a yearlong repaving project that will prompt lane closures on San Francisco’s 19th Avenue, which also serves as state Highway 1 in the city. The work will begin on 19th Avenue at Sloat Boulevard and proceed north toward Lincoln Way at Golden Gate Park, then will go back south from Lincoln to Sloat. Caltrans officials said two lanes will always be open and one lane closed in the direction of the repaving work, and that people should find alternate routes during peak commute hours. After that section is complete in Phase 1 of the project, Phase 2 will finish the work by December 2026. The repaving is along 18.8 miles of 19th Avenue between Lincoln Way at the park and Holloway Avenue at San Francisco State University, according to Caltrans. Highway 1 becomes Park Presidio Boulevard further north and the highway intersection at California Street will also be repaved next year. Caltrans officials said on the state agency’s website that “this project will preserve and extend the life of the existing pavement and improve ride quality. The repaved 19th Avenue will improve driver safety and enhance the driving experience. Pedestrians and cyclists will also benefit from safer, smoother streets to traverse across.”
- Proposal to Bring Semi Trucks Back to Oakland’s I-580 Rigs Controversy Across East Bay (SFist). Semi trucks have not been allowed on Oakland’s I-580 in 74 years, as big rigs have had to take I-880 instead. Caltrans is considering undoing that policy, and everyone who lives anywhere near either interstate has an opinion about it. For the last 74 years, semi trucks have not been allowed on a roughly ten-mile stretch of Oakland’s Interstate 580 (or technically, vehicles of more than 4.5 tons cannot drive on I-580 between Oakland’s Grand Avenue near Lake Merritt and San Leandro, with exceptions for buses and shuttles). It was a move designed to alleviate air pollution, congestion, and noise, and big rigs have the parallel, alternate path of I-880 which is closer to Okaland’s warehouse and industrial district, keeping trucks off the hillier and more suburban setting of I-580. The two nearby routes can be seen below.
- It’s official—California is testing orange lines on highways and could say goodbye to classic yellow lines forever (El Adelanto). When asked to imagine a highway, we immediately think of a long road with white or yellow stripes painted on it. But what if I told you that this color could change very soon? Road markings are as ingrained in our visual memory as traffic lights. However, in the state of California—world-renowned for setting trends—a subtle but radical change has been proposed that could improve traffic. This experiment has already been tested on a section of Interstate 5 in San Diego County, where authorities have used bright orange flashing paint on the asphalt. Although there are no plans to replace all of the state’s signage at this time, it does appear to be an innovative and necessary safety measure. This fluorescent orange color is being used to mark temporary construction zones. There is nothing more visually striking to indicate that something is out of the ordinary than painting the road you always drive on a different color.
- Trucks could return to this Bay Area highway after a 74-year ban. People aren’t happy (SF Chronicle via MSN). State transportation officials are weighing a controversial idea to allow large trucks on Interstate 580 in Oakland. Many people are not happy about it. That much was clear when Caltrans held a virtual town hall earlier this month, to discuss the agency’s ongoing study on what could happen if the 74-year truck ban were reversed. Three hundred sixty-one people tuned in, and nearly a hundred clamored to submit questions in a live chat. Attendees expressed concern about noise, congestion and air pollution if truck traffic were shifted from its current home on Interstate 880, to I-580 farther east. They also wanted to know if Caltrans would build sound walls, if garbage trucks and 18-wheelers would wind up parked on city streets, what would happen if one of these behemoths crashed, and whether planners had considered all the homes and businesses clustered around I-580 today.
- Rain slowed Highway 1 slide work near Big Sur. What Caltrans is doing to catch up (SLO Tribune via MSN). Recent fog and rainfall dumped on Big Sur’s stretch of Highway 1 meant there were a dozen days during November when crews couldn’t continue working on long-running repairs at Regent’s Slide. It’s not known yet if the work stoppages will delay the spring 2026 reopening Caltrans has been estimating for the full length of world-famous, oceanfront drive, let alone what kinds of weather Mother Nature will deal out between now and then. “Despite recent rains, crews have mobilized equipment and dedicated fully staffed crews to advance repairs and take advantage of forecasted dry weather,” Caltrans spokesman Kevin Drabinski told The Tribune Friday. “The completion of repairs remains, as we have signaled before, at the discretion of weather and site conditions.”
Gribblenation Blog (Tom Fearer)
- Snelling Road. Snelling Road is an approximately 9.4-mile rural highway located in Merced County. Said highway as the name suggests serves as the most direct route between the city of Merced and community of Snelling. Snelling Road was constructed during the early 1870s shortly after Southern Pacific Railroad plotted Merced. The intended purpose of the corridor was to permit travel from the original Merced County seat in Snelling south to the railroad facilities in Merced.
- Cooperstown Road. Cooperstown Road is a nine-mile rural and mostly unsurfaced highway located in eastern Stanislaus County. Originally a component of the La Grange-Knights Ferry Stage Road the highway is named after the ghost town of Cooperstown. Cooperstown was one of the original sidings of the Sierra Railway constructed in 1897. Cooperstown Road despite being mostly unsurfaced is well maintained and easy to access for low clearance vehicles. The corridor features numerous bridges of varying vintages and numerous artifacts of the Sierra Railway (now Sierra Railroad).
- Willms Road. Willms Road is an approximately 7.3-mile rural highway located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Stanislaus County. The highway is named for Willms Ranch which was plotted along the stage road to Knights Ferry in 1852. The corridor originally had a northern terminus which lined up with the 1864-era Knights Ferry Covered Bridge at the Stanislaus River. Since 1981 the structure has been closed to automotive traffic and new alignment became part of Sonora Road.
- Former California State Route 120 along Green Springs Road and Keystone siding. Green Springs Road of Tuolumne County is a short, bypassed segment servicing Keystone siding which was once part of California State Route 120. The corridor is notable for having not only visible portions of Portland Cement but also the very early era State Highway bridge at Green Springs Run. The Green Springs Run Bridge was constructed in 1914 and still displays plaques indicating it to be a State Highway component. California State Route 120 was realigned around Keystone siding during the mid-1950s.
- Old Don Pedro Road. Old Don Pedro Road is an approximately five-mile-long single lane highway located in Tuolumne County. The corridor is one of the oldest roadways in California as it once accessed the town site of Don Pedro Bar at the Tuolumne River. The town of Don Pedro Bar was founded in 1848 by famous coastal wine industry figure Don Pedro Sainevain. Ultimately Don Pedro Bar was flooded over and what is now Old Don Pedro Bar was severed when the original Don Pedro Dam arch concrete dam was completed in 1924.
- Bonds Flat Road. Bonds Flat Road is an approximately six-mile highway in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tuolumne County near La Grange. The roadway crosses New Don Pedro Dam and was opened to traffic in 1971 following completion of said structure. The corridor begins at La Grange Road (County Route J59) and terminates at California State Route 132.
- Merced Falls Road. Merced Falls Road is an approximately 18.3-mile rural highway located in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Tuolumne County, Mariposa County and Merced County. The roadway begins at California State Route 132 and terminates in the community of Snelling. At Hornitos Road the corridor of Merced Falls Road continues as part of County Route J16. From La Grange Road west to 2nd Street in Snelling the corridor carries a multiplex of California State Route 59 and County Route J16.
- Madera County Road 420 (Thornberry Road). Madera County Road 420 is 4.2 mile mostly dirt surfaced cutoff between Road 223 (Teaford Saddle Road) at Teaford Saddle and California State Route 41 in Deadwood Gulch. The corridor flanks the northern ridge of the 4,433-foot-high Thornberry Mountain and was once known as Thornberry Road.
- Marshes Flat Road and the Kelley Grade (Tuolumne County). Marshes Flat Road is named after Marsh’s Flat and is one of the oldest highway corridors in Tuolumne County. This corridor originally connected Don Pedro Bar at the Tuolumne River to the original Priest Grade (now Old Priest Grade) at Moccasin Creek. The highway reportedly had a known hideout of Joaquin Murietta and provided access to the early mining community of Indian Bar.
Headlines About California Highways – November 2025
Dec. 1st, 2025 06:10 pmcahwyguyNovember is now in the books. This means two things: It is now less than a week away before ACSAC (Annual Computer Security Applications Conference), and holiday movies and music have started. I’m looking forward to the former, for which I’m local arrangements and registration chair (although it is a lot of work); much less so to the latter (because if one doesn’t observe Christmas, the hoopla over the holiday becomes a bit obsessive). That said, whatever holiday you are observing during this month of holidays: I hope it is happy, meaningful, and celebrated with those you love and care about.
I’m continuing to work on podcast episodes. I’ve currently working on writing the first episode on Route 12, leaving two more on Route 12, one on Route 13, and one on Route 14 to go. I’ll be getting back to the last round of updates for 2025 as soon as I get back from the conference.
We’ve started Season 4 of the podcast, and we were able to use new recording software (Zencaster) for episode. I think it sounds better, and I’m hopeful that the next episode will be even better as I now know how to adjust my microphone input better. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 36 for 4.03, 63 for 4.01 and 4.02 and 70 for 3.15), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). 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 Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:
- November | CA RxR 4.03: Route 9: Santa Cruz and Saratoga. Episode 4.03 starts a pair of episodes that explore Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. This episode (4.03) covers the current Route 9 from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos; the next episode (4.04) covers the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This episode also explores the 9th State Route between Peanut and Kuntz (now Mad River), and LRN 9. LRN 9 ran all the way from Ventura to San Bernardino, and was Sign Route 118 from Ventura to Pasadena, and US 66 from Pasadena to San Bernardino. As always, we’ll talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. As noted, the next episode explores the remainder of pre-1964 Sign Route 9 from Saratoga through Milpitas to the Castro Valley. (Spotify for Podcasters)
- November | CA RxR 4.02: I-8 and US 80 Between El Cajon and the Arizona Border. This is Episode 4.02, which continues our exploration of Route 8, better known as Interstate 8. In this episode, we focus on the portion of I-8 from La Mesa (just outside of San Diego) to the Arizona border. We look at not only current I-8, but the routing of the predecessor route, US 80. We discuss the communities of La Mesa and El Cajon, Alpine and Descanso, Boulevard, the Mountain Springs Grade, Jacumba, Ocatillo (with a digression on the Imperial Highway), El Centro, Holtville and the Algondenes Dunes (with a digression on the Plank Road), Winterhaven and Yuma. We also briefly talk about the interesting routing of US 80 within Arizona, and how it differs from I-8. We talk about historical routings, projects along the route, and some significant names. In the next episode, we’ll turn our attention to Route 9, which currently runs from Santa Cruz to Los Gatos, but which once ran all the way to Castro Valley. (Spotify for Podcasters)
As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and 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.
Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for November.
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
- Two Weeks After Anniversary of Fatal Malibu Crash, City Could Reject PCH Safety Improvements (Streetsblog Los Angeles). On Monday, November 3, the Malibu Planning Commission will hold a final hearing on the proposed Caltrans Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Safety Project, a $55 million plan to repave and upgrade the western portion of PCH between Cross Creek Road and the Ventura County line. Find meeting details at the bottom of this article. This PCH project has been in the works for years. Then, after a fatal crash that killed four young women standing along PCH on October 17, 2023, advocates scrambled to get Caltrans to include safety improvements along with the repaving. The project now aims to improve safety and accessibility along the corridor via a range of infrastructure updates. Proposed features include 15 miles of new or upgraded bike lanes, nearly 7,000 linear feet of new sidewalks in high-pedestrian areas including near Pepperdine University, 42 dark-sky compliant light poles, 19 guardrails, 22 curb ramps, three retaining walls, and two realigned intersections. The plan also includes median reconstruction and law enforcement pull-outs at various locations.
- Freeway vs. Highway: Yes, the Difference Matters (Readers Digest). Some road names are regional, but it’s the definitions that matter most. Life is a highway, or so the snappy song by Canadian crooner Tom Cochrane tells us. But what is a highway, exactly? And when it comes to freeways vs. highways, is there a real difference? Living in New York City means I’ve driven on many high-speed roads in the tristate area, from parkways to expressways and everything in between. And I’m here to tell you they are indeed distinct from one another. But don’t take my word for it—I’m no driving expert. (I get more parking tickets than I should and occasionally use the bus lane to pass.) Instead, I’ve tapped Nathan Huynh, PhD, a highway expert and professor of civil engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, to suss out these thoroughfare subtleties, explain regional name differences and tell us why road terms matter.
- ＄ Caltrans cuts ribbon on 395 Olancha-Cartago widening (Ridgecrest Daily Independent). There are safer travels ahead on U.S. 395 in the Owens Valley with the end of major construction on the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project. This project constructed 12.5 miles of new pavement, replacing the previous two-lane highway with a split 4-lane expressway designed to eliminate cross-centerline crashes. This is the final stretch of U.S. 395 to be converted into a 4-lane expressway in most of Inyo County. “The Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project underscores Caltrans’ safety and people-first philosophy,” said Acting District 9 Director Brandon Fitt. “Enhancing safety along this vital roadway improves the quality of life for residents of Olancha and Cartago and provides a better and more efficient travel experience for drivers.”
- Caltrans Commitment to Safety Highlighted in Completion of the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project (Sierra Wave: Eastern Sierra News). There are safer travels ahead on U.S. 395 in the Owens Valley with the end of major construction on the Olancha-Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project. This project constructed 12.5 miles of new pavement, replacing the previous two-lane highway with a split 4-lane expressway designed to eliminate cross-centerline crashes. This is the final stretch of U.S. 395 to be converted into a 4-lane expressway in most of Inyo County. “The Olancha Cartago 4-Lane Expressway Project underscores Caltrans’ safety and people-first philosophy,” said Acting District 9 Director Brandon Fitt. “Enhancing safety along this vital roadway improves the quality of life for residents of Olancha and Cartago and provides a better and more efficient travel experience for drivers.” The new lanes on U.S. 395 closed the gap between existing four-lane sections to the north and south. The upgraded facility will meet future transportation demands as vehicle and freight traffic through the region continues to increase.
- Construction continues for Fanny Bridge near Lake Tahoe; nearby construction also scheduled (2 News Nevada). The Fanny Bridge construction continues in Sunnyside, California, along Lake Tahoe while crews add a permanent sewer line scheduled for Friday, November 7. During this project, cars will detour onto Lake Boulevard bypass to access State Route 89 and State Route 28. According to Caltrans, West Lake Boulevard will remain open for business and for transit center access, with only the Fanny Bridge being closed. The walking and bicycle path across the Truckee River Dam will remain open throughout the project.
- Old Woman Springs Road officially designated “High Desert State Scenic Highway” (Z107.7 FM Joshua Tree). State Route 247, known locally as Old Woman Springs Road, now has a new name. The road that connects Yucca Valley to Barstow will now by known as “High Desert State Scenic Highway.” The Homestead Valley Community Council (HVCC) received word from Caltrans that the road was officially dedicated as “scenic” by the state’s road agency on October 4. The HVCC had been campaigning for the highway to be designated as scenic, and was informed of the designation by San Bernardino County’s Land Use Services on Thursday (October 30).
- Goleta’s San Jose Creek Bridge Set for Major Replacement Project (Edhat). The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) will replace the San Jose Creek Bridge along State Route 217 in Goleta, the agency announced on social media on October 27, 2025. The work will require full overnight closures between Hollister Avenue and Sandspit Road on October 28, 2025, and October 30, 2025, from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. The road closures will allow for the installation of precast girders for the new bridge, the City of Goleta said in a statement. The bicycle lane will remain open during the overnight closures.
- Hwy. 1 slide update: Caltrans installs cable nets to prevent falling rocks (SLO Tribune via MSN). Crews continue making progress in stabilizing Regent’s Slide on Highway 1, Caltrans said Wednesday, giving an update on work at the troublesome cliff face that’s contributed to a nearly three-year closure along the Big Sur Coast. of that stretch of the All-American Road and National Scenic Byway. The state road agency still estimates a spring 2026 reopening for through travel from Cambria to the Monterey Bay area, maybe as early as late March. That timing depends on various influences, of course, the most significant of which is weather, because heavy rains can unleash more slides in the geologically unstable area.
- California’s Iconic, Major Interstate With Renowned Views Has Been Named America’s Busiest Highway (Yahoo! News). Similar to Interstate 95 (I-95), the East Coast’s major highway that’s considered one of America’s deadliest, the West Coast’s own Interstate 5 (I-5) stands out, not for danger, but for its sheer volume of traffic. Recently named America’s busiest highway by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), I-5 is more than just a road; it’s a lifeline connecting some of the country’s most vital regions. This 1,381-mile artery isn’t just about logistics, it’s a journey through the heart of the West Coast — and a scenic one at that. From sun-drenched beaches and bustling metropolises to sprawling farmland and snow-capped peaks, I-5 offers an unmatched visual narrative. Travelers along the Pacific Coast experience a true spectrum of the American landscape, especially between Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Santa Ana — the stretch of area under the spotlight in this recent study.