From the North Coast Journal:
“…As with the county, city public works departments rely on a patchwork of funding to patch the roads, and the likelihood of some sources of funding coming through is often dubious…”
Infrastructure
North Coast Journal: “Why aren’t Humboldt’s rural roads getting fixed?”
Another in a series of informative articles on our local transportation infrastructure from the Journal highlights the dangerous disrepair of many rural roads. Putting road maintenance and repair first – particularly where basic access is at risk – is CRTP’s top priority. Maintaining and repairing roads before conditions become so bad is far cheaper in the long run, but with such a deficit in transportation funding, officials are just doing “triage”:
“‘We currently have between $200 and $250 million dollars worth of deferred maintenance,” [Humboldt County Public Works Director Thomas Mattson] said. ‘I do not have anywhere close to enough money to bring our roads up to an acceptable state of repair.’ … Keeping up with the basic maintenance of roads — cutting back brush, cleaning out culverts and repairing potholes — requires $20 million a year, according to Mattson. He currently works with a budget of $10 million, meaning the county accumulates about $10 million in deferred road maintenance annually.”
This state of affairs really highlights the importance of prioritizing maintenance and repair over projects that add new capacity – particularly new capacity for heavy trucks that do disproportionate damage to our roads.
Letter: Canceling STAA Access Project Needs to Be on the Table
From the Triplicate on January 12th:
“The meeting on the 2016 Regional Transportation Plan was jam-packed with folks from Crescent City, Hiouchi, and Gasquet, among other places, to the surprise of Project Manager Jeff Schwein. A large percentage — two-thirds to three-fourths by show of hands — were there with concerns about Caltrans’ project to alter Highways 199 and 197 to allow the longer STAA trucks….
The point I wanted to make, but was cut off, is that funding can be rescinded and projects canceled. We need to free up as much money as possible to handle what Jeff stressed is a “crisis in funding” for Del Norte County roads….”
Triplicate: Last Chance, STAA Hot Topics
From the Del Norte Triplicate:
“…The letter EPIC submitted Monday night as its formal comment on the Regional Transportation Plan touched on many of the things said by opponents of the project all along: namely, that widening and straightening the highways to allow access to larger trucks will not make the already windy and precarious road any safer, and puts the pristine Smith River at greater risk of spills…”
Eureka’s Dangerous Intersections: A Tale of Two Agencies
A recent article from the North Coast Journal about ongoing efforts to reduce serious traffic accidents in Eureka is timely and enlightening. The City of Eureka has taken the sensible approach of mapping the most dangerous intersections, identifying the causes of crashes, and (in addition to stepping up education and enforcement) “identify[ing] problems with road layout, visibility, signage, signal timing and other safety issues.” Contrast that with Caltrans’ approach to the roads under its jurisdiction. Rather than following Eureka’s approach of identifying dangerous spots and figuring out what can be done about them, the state agency, as usual, is trying to justify road capacity increases with unsupported safety claims. It seems almost unbelievable a transportation agency would argue with a straight face that adding lanes – and thus increasing traffic speed – through a busy downtown would increase safety, but that’s exactly what Caltrans is saying.
“Take the Coalition’s Challenge – Drop the Big Truck Projects”
On KINS radio, Bill Schaser calls on Caltrans to “take the Coalition’s challenge – drop the big truck projects and put that money toward real safety projects instead.”
Pedestrian Fatalities in Humboldt County
As the Eureka Traffic Officer says in an article in today’s Times-Standard, “It doesn’t really matter who’s at fault when you end up in the hospital…the pedestrian will always lose.” So maybe we should shift some of the focus away from the people involved in specific accidents and toward the infrastructure! Our roads are often dangerous for pedestrians and bicyclists. Better crosswalk markings and signage seem to have made a difference already in pedestrian safety in Eureka. Imagine how much safer we could be with roads that were actually designed for multimodal transportation – rather than being designed for cars and trucks, with other users just an afterthought!
From the Times-Standard:
“…Crosswalk countdown signals — noting how much time a pedestrian has to get across the street before the light changes — as well as more visible markers at such locations on West Avenue near Silvercrest as well as the police department’s targeted enforcement may have all contributed to fewer pedestrian vs. vehicle accidents this summer, she said.
While the EPD only tracks pedestrian fatalities within the city limits, 2015 has also been a deadly year for pedestrians in the northern Humboldt County area outside of the Eureka city limits — from south of Scotia to the Del Norte County line and inland to Trinity and Siskiyou counties….”
Pedestrian-Friendly Streetscapes Out of General Plan
Apparently the majority of our Humboldt County supervisors have now decided that “pedestrian friendly streetscape” requirements don’t belong in our general plan. This is a disappointing decision at a time when we should be doing everything we can to prioritize walking and other healthy, community-building, low-impact modes of transportation. From the Mad River Union:
“In response to lobbying from housing developers, county supervisors have revisited several General Plan Update decisions…
Reconsideration of a policy calling for pedestrian-friendly streetscapes also stirred debate. The policy encourages “pedestrian-friendly residential design” through techniques such as using alleys and courtyards to minimize street-facing driveways and minimizing street-level views of garages….
Supervisors voted to delete the policy, with Lovelace dissenting….”
“Let’s take county into the future, not the past”
From the Times-Standard:
“…Dave Spreen’s “My Word” (“Building on our rural creative class economy a better bet,” Times-Standard, Aug. 29, Page A4) was the most intelligent commentary yet on the folly of CalTrans priorities on the Northcoast. Those arguing for this mid-20th Century infrastructure expansion will leave us with a obsolete economic structure while eroding our quality of life as well endangering our citizens. Let’s build for the future not for the past….”
My Word: Building on our rural creative class economy a better bet
From the Times-Standard:
“…[I]f Caltrans’ Richardson Grove Highway 101 and the Del Norte Highway 199/197 road “widening” Surface Transportation Assistance Act (STAA) oversize truck access projects are not cancelled, the international freight “port with rail” dreamers will continue to be a drain on public resources that could be better utilized elsewhere….
Supporters of an international port with rail and oversize STAA trucking have for too long followed a locally unsuitable economic model that holds that industrial port development must be the primary economic driver for creating jobs and generating income for recreation and conservation improvements. The empirical evidence certainly does not support that model….
The Times-Standard reported that Humboldt was ranked second best county in the U.S. by the “natural amenities index.” (“Second best county in US,” Aug. 19, Page A3.) When two paths diverge in the woods, you can’t take both. Let’s direct transportation resources to enhance development of our rural creative class economy, not through-route access for oversize trucks in a futile pursuit of unsustainable goals.”