California's Workhorse Highway
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CALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION JournalApril–June 2003 Volume 3 Issue 4 California’s Workhorse Highway p. 6 The Wildlife Connection p. 11 A Lifeline for California’s Smaller Cities p. 15 The Intermodal Hamburger p. 25 On the Road to Happy Camp p. 29 Gray Davis Director’s Corner Governor Maria Contreras-Sweet Anyone who still is carrying around the old notion that Caltrans is just the “highway department” Secretary of the Business, needs to spend a little time with the current issue of the Journal of the California Department of Transportation and Transportation. Housing Agency Jeff Morales In these pages you will fi nd our people swimming in the murky waters of the San Francisco Bay to Director of the preserve eel grass, and climbing the rugged coastal mountains of Orange County to extend the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) range of mountain lions. Dennis Trujillo You’ll fi nd us working to preserve the architectural heritage of the city of Lemon Grove, and provid- Deputy Director External Affairs ing the necessary support so that people who need public transit between Redding and Eureka can Gene Berthelsen have it. Editor Photography You’ll fi nd us helping to build an interconnection so that transit-dependent Caltrans people at the U.S.-Mexican border will have a smoother transition (right Art Direction/Design through the middle of a McDonald’s Restaurant) from bicycles and intercity Wallrich Landi buses to San Diego’s Red Cars. And the department’s new guidance for Cal- Integrated Marketing Communications trans projects on our state’s main streets will offset decades of concentration on through-traffi c and focus again on the livability of our cities and towns. Printing Office of State Publishing And yet, we remain proud of our responsibility for safe and effi cient intercity Cover Photo highways—and so you’ll fi nd us providing for a safer crossing of U.S. 101 Caltrans Photography near Prunedale (while taking extraordinary measures to stem erosion and keep nearby streams clear) and assuring that a scenic mountain highway is For individuals with sensory disabilities, this open and unimpeded by landslides between Yreka and the Hoopa Indian document is available Jeff Morales Reservation near Willow Creek in northern California in Braille, large print, on audio-cassette or And while all of this refl ects a growing sensitivity to our surroundings, Caltrans has for many years computer disk. To obtain —even before passage of the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental a copy in one of these alternative formats, Quality Act—consulted with local communities and natural resource agencies to attempt to amelio- please call or write to: rate the effects of our projects. Caltrans Public Affairs Office We’re getting better at it and I want us to get even better in the future. 1120 N Street, Room 1200 Anyone who really knows Caltrans—and I think you can learn a lot about us from these pages— Mail Stop 49 knows that our extraordinary range of disciplines, interests and expertise qualifi es us to take on just Sacramento, CA 95814 about any major transportation job that the world wants to throw at us, and to do it well. (916) 653-5456 (916) 653-4086 JournalCALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION APRIL–JUNE 2003 • V O L U M E 4 • I S S U E 1 Down the Eelgrass Path 2 New District 4 Permit Process California’s Workhorse Highway 6 Bringing State Route 99 into the 21st Century 6 The Wildlife Connection 11 The Coal Canyon Preserve Project A Lifeline for California’s Smaller Cities 15 Intercity Bus Subsidies This Old House 18 The Lee House Odyssey The Longest Left-Turn Pocket in California 22 The San Miguel Canyon Road Interchange Project 11 The Intermodal Hamburger 25 The San Ysidro Transit Center On the Road to Happy Camp 29 A Trip Down Route 96 The Cone Zone Goes Statewide 37 Major Safety Benefi ts 25 Context Sensitivity Wrap-Up 40 Highways as Main Streets Caltrans People 43 Getting Involved in Exciting, Rewarding Activities Editor’s Notebook 49 The Mammoth Orange 29 1 California Transportation Journal April–June 2003 2 3 California Transportation Journal April–June 2003 N E W DISTRICT 4 PERMITP E R M I T PPROCESSR O C E S S Down the Eelgrass PathPath Photos by John Huseby Eelgrass—so named not because Jensen came by his position by treading a path that was it provides habitat for slippery decidedly different from that trod by most Caltrans proj- creatures, but because it looks like ect development personnel. A 1984 graduate of Stanford them—is providing an opportunity University in public policy, he began his career in public for a more vigorous approach in service mediating disputes between landlords and tenants District 4 to obtaining the permis- in the Bay Area before moving on to the Bay Conservation sion from the myriad agencies with and Development Commission and then the California which Caltrans must work, to keep Coastal Commission. big projects moving. Two and a half years ago, he moved to Caltrans, working as an environmental planner for the Toll Bridge Program. District 4 has tabbed him to coordinate the permitting effort because of his experience with the agencies from which the department must obtain the permits, and his experience working on the San Francisco Oakland Bay The district has established the Offi ce of Natural Science Bridge East Span Seismic Safety Project. and Permits, an effort to develop a “one-stop shop” “My former colleagues at the permitting agencies like to through which applications for permits from the resource tell me that I’ve gone to the ‘dark side,’” Jensen says. agencies will be funneled. The permit offi ce is part of a larger effort by District 4 to Jeffrey Jensen, the Offi ce Chief, is a compact man, just improve the way it deals with the agencies that have enor- starting to attain a head of steely gray hair that may or mous sway over its mammoth building program—more may not grow grayer with his new assignment. He speaks than $4 billion tied up in projects that must run the permit carefully and succinctly about his new task. His unit’s mis- obstacle course. This effort includes paying for staff posi- sion is to lead Caltrans project development units through tions in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Fish and the tortuous process of gaining permits from as many as Wildlife Service and BCDC. a dozen agencies, any one of whose refusal to cooperate may spell doom for a project—a process that even an eel “These permits involve complex issues,” Jensen says. might fi nd too labyrinthine to get through. “First, there’s the matter of expertise. The agencies react continued 2 3 California Transportation Journal April–June 2003 more favorably to a knowledgeable, familiar face. And “And if, early on, the permitting agencies are made aware often, in project development, the designer to whom of our project constraints, and they are big ones—fi nan- the permits fall may be new to the process for obtaining cial, time, constructability and safety constraints—they them, may be unfamiliar with the permitting agencies and may be able to take a more fl exible approach or, at the the laws and regulations that drive them. They may not very least, fi nd ways to help us through their processes.” have a full appreciation of the agency’s mission. I think I In the Bay Area’s sophisticated environmental milieu, this can help to bring some clarity to this issue.” approach is essential. “Obviously, this is a large organizational effort, both on “The eelgrass project developed as part of the San Fran- the part of Caltrans and the resource agencies,” Jensen cisco-Oakland Bay Bridge East Span Seismic Safety Project says. “Ultimately, obtaining a permit will involve expertise is a good example of what can be done,” Jensen says. from landscape, engineering, architects, planners, project managers, as well as the people from the natural sciences Eelgrass grows in a narrow latitude between the surface area.” of bay waters and a depth of about one meter. It clarifi es water by trapping sediments and provides food and shel- “There is also a need to start early, when project decisions ter for a number of species. It is a nursery area for fi nned can still be altered to avoid impacts to the environment. fi sh and shellfi sh and almost all of the anadramous fi sh It’s important to realize,” he says, “that we have depart- found along the Pacifi c coast. Herring spawn on eelgrass mental direction not to harm the environment and to leaves, and young salmon and smelt use it for shelter enhance it if we can. That direction has to be internalized before heading out to sea. It is an important resource for in the project development process early on.” migratory birds and other waterfowl, such as black brant, that feed directly on them. Eelgrass in the San Francisco Bay is stressed. Today, even though it seems to be making a comeback in some ar- Detail of Individual eas, the San Francisco Bay supports only about 320 ha Eelgrass Study Plot of it because watershed nutrients and sediments from EELGRASS CONTROL 3/8 INCH NYLON ROPE MARKS GRID BOUNDARIES WQ SAMPLING POINTS INDIVIDUAL PLANTING FOR COMPOSITE UNITS DISTRIBUTED IN A BARE CONTROL CHARACTERIZATION OF 5X5 GRID (25 UNITS) WITH SEDIMENT GRAIN SIZE AND A SEPARATIONSEPARATION OF 0.5 M TOTAL ORGANIC CARBON BETWEEN ADJACENT CENTRAL STATION USED FOR WATER QUALITY DATA COLLECTION 4 5 California Transportation Journal April–June 2003 upstream dredging and fi lling cloud the water and retard Caltrans and Bay Area aquatic scientists ex- its growth.