From the Times-Standard:
“After a 10-foot section of U.S. Highway 101 just south of Crescent City known as Last Chance Grade collapsed Monday because of the area’s notorious landslide activity, local legislators called for increased pressure for the construction of an alternate route….”
The dire state of our existing transportation infrastructure highlights the foolishness of expanding our highways and inviting more big, road- and bridge-damaging trucks into the North Coast. Even the major revenue-raising measure currently proposed would at best only allow us to maintain existing roads and bridges a little better.
From the Times-Standard:
“…’Our road systems are falling apart,’ [Humboldt County Public Works Director Thomas] Mattson said. ‘It’s got to be paid for one way or another.'”
From the Manteca Bulletin:
“…Lathrop Road, not having the STAA designation, was not engineered with the proper road base to support the weight of these long haul trucks traversing it daily. This is evidenced by the mere fact that within a few short years after it was paved with new asphalt, it is deteriorating to the point that major work is going to be needed soon.…”
From the Times-Standard:
“Highways, freeways, bridges and streets across the state are past due for repairs and upgrades — and in need of billions to make it happen — which is why state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) placed obtaining transportation infrastructure funding for his North Coast constituents at the top of his to-do list this year….”
Richard Salzman writes in last week’s North Coast Journal:
“…We do not need to be putting more large trucks on 199 perched above the Smith River, nor on Highway 101 between southern Mendocino and northern Humboldt County, where 101 has long stretches with curves that strain the suspension of most vehicles driving at 65 mph, never mind if a deer or a loose tire suddenly crosses your path. In such a situation, the one thing you do not want, is to be alongside of, or head-on with, an oversized truck…”