a section of highway 1 collapsed after a heavy rainstorm south of big sur on 29.01.2021.
photo by kodiak greenwood. read more: sfchronicle, 29.01.2021.
why bailout the private airline industry, private banks, private companies—instead of FULLY FUNDING PUBLIC SERVICES such as the postal service and public transit?!
tweet: bicyclelobby, 12.04.2020. related: “the true costs of driving,” theatlantic, 25.10.15.
“From the densely urban neighborhoods of Oakland and Berkeley, to the gritty, industrial swaths of Richmond, to the suburbia of Pinole and Hercules and the small company towns of Rodeo and Crockett, San Pablo Avenue is the common link that all of these communities share.
Starting at the northern end of San Pablo Ave is the small town of Crockett. Crockett was built around the C&H sugar factory, and has an architectural style that is reminiscent of Sausalito. One of the main attractions in Crockett is the Dead Fish, an upscale, waterside restaurant with views of the Carquinez Strait, the Napa River, San Pablo Bay; as well as views of Mare Island, Vallejo and Benicia directly across the bridge. Crockett also has some local fame as the hometown of Alfred Zampa, a legendary iron worker, who, during his career, worked on many of the Bay Area’s bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge, which he fell off of and miraculously survived. As a result of his larger than life legend, the Carquinez Bridge is also known a the “Al Zampa Bridge.”
the carquinez bridge and crockett hills regional park. flickr/pbo31
“While Hercules’ next door neighbor, Rodeo is a blue collar, refinery town. Hercules is every example of modern, master-planned suburbia. The streets are perfectly paved, people are reserved, but friendly enough; crime is low and schools are above average. The town started off similarly to Rodeo, as a company town, rather than an oil refinery, it was situated around an explosives and munitions manufacturer called The Hercules Powder Company. As a result, people colloquially called the area Hercules, after the Powder Company. Once the city was incorporated, no one could really come up with anything, so the name stuck. Although, it’s hard to see any evidence of its industrial past as you cruise down San Pablo Ave through Hercules today.”
hercules. flickr/jlin45d
read more: brokeassstuart, 27.09.19.
the writer forgot the most important fact—san pablo ave is a highway, which is why it cuts through a bunch of cities.
“State Route 123 (SR 123) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California in the San Francisco Bay Area. Named San Pablo Avenue for virtually its entire length, SR 123 is a major north–south state highway along the flats of the urban East Bay. Route 123 runs about 7.39 miles (11.9 km) between Interstate 580 in Oakland in the south and Interstate 80 in Richmond in the north. San Pablo Avenue itself, a portion of Historic US 40, continues well past these termini, south to Downtown Oakland and north to Crockett, but without the Route 123 designation.“ —wikipedia
related: the san pablo avenue corridor project.
damage on highway 178 from 6.4 earthquake in ridgecrest, california on the fourth of july.
via “california governor newsom declares state of emergency after southern california earthquake.” associatedpress, 04.07.19.
the place is called ridgecrest.
hangin’ out at the metal beam guardrail at steamboat landing, taking a break on the way to sacramento, 16.03.19.
Source: Flickr / dianneyee
san francisco, 1959: the embarcadero freeway, piers at the waterfront, and the bay bridge. photos by duke downey.
more: “1959 san francisco aerial photos show a city on the verge of transformation.” sfchronicle, 13.03.19.
“We happened to be in Columbus when 13th Street, a state highway constituting Midtown’s commercial spine, was scheduled for re-striping. This created a once-in-a-decade opportunity for the five blocks that had become the epicenter of our efforts.
The conditions were ideal: we had built relationships with property owners in the area, our partner organization had spent months advocating tirelessly for a streetscape improvement, and the Georgia Department of Transportation was open to whatever plan the City presented. The stewards of the commercial core of 13th street—business and property owners and our partner, Midtown Inc.—saw the potential for a road diet.”
read more: incrementaldevelopment.
niles canyon stroll & roll, 30.09.17.
“a rare event where Highway 84 (Niles Canyon Road) is closed to vehicular traffic. This is an opportunity for people to bike and walk safely through the canyon with their friends and family.
The Stroll & Roll began in 2015 by Alameda County Supervisors Richard Valle and Scott Haggerty in an effort to promote an initiative to create a trail through the Niles Canyon.”
Source: Flickr / sirgious
“San Francisco, like many California cities, has state-owned highways that serve as surface streets in their communities such as 19th Avenue in The City.
To make those streets safer for the pedestrians and bicyclists who use those streets alongside motorists, Senator Scott Wiener introduced legislation Monday that would require Caltrans to make safety improvements such as bike lanes and sidewalks when updating such streets.
19th avenue in san francisco.
“In San Francisco, we have six-lane, fast-moving highways that are disguised as neighborhood streets,” said Jodie Mederios, executive director of Walk San Francisco. “These roads are death traps and need to be designed for the safety of everyone, not just for moving traffic quickly.”
Senate Bill 127, which Wiener discussed in a press conference on Monday, would require all major road projects to fulfill the requirement of a ‘complete street,’ which is designed to accommodate all road users, not just drivers. This would include well-lit facilities for bicycles and pedestrians along with a sidewalk that is physically separate from moving vehicles. It would also change Caltrans rules to make such improvements the default rather than the exception in its projects.
It would require clear reporting on how much money is spent on bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure–something that is currently very difficult to separate out in project budgets and therefore very difficult to measure and account for.
Despite adopting a ‘complete streets’ policy back in 2008, Caltrans has yet to deliver consistent safety improvements and continues to prioritize the movement of vehicle traffic through cities over all other modes of transportation, he said.
“For too long, Caltrans has talked about complete streets as a policy, but hasn’t actually delivered these improvements in its projects,” Wiener said.
Caltrans, which owns and maintains roughly 50,000 miles of state roads, is also responsible for three significant stretches of asphalt that cut through the city. Namely, Highway 101 on Van Ness and Lombard Avenue, Highway 1 on 19th Avenue and Highway 35 on Sloat Boulevard.”
“The Trump administration changed the program Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) to Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD). Beneath the name change is a round of grants that reveal that the new focus of the federal program is road projects instead of a mix of driving, walking, biking and transit projects.
Back in 2013, Obama’s TIGER program supported transit and road projects at an almost equal level. And biking got $142 million.
Mostly, BUILD is allocating money to small highway projects in rural locations. About 70 percent of the money went to roads and bridges, while transit only got 11 percent.
“The devolution of this grant program toward rural highway funding is extra painful because rural areas and highways are already supported by numerous federal programs, including the bulk for formula funding sent to states. TIGER was unique in that it provided something lacking: funding for projects that offered alternatives to driving, projects like the Indianapolis Trail and complete streets in notoriously dangerous Lee County, Fla.
But now it’s just another tool of the Trump Administration’s war on transit.”
read more: streetsblog, 12.12.18.
bike touring on highway 1, marin-sonoma county border, california.
Source: Flickr / dianneyee
For American cities, highways are a drug. They’re expensive to acquire. They devastate healthy tissue and arteries, replacing previous modes of nourishment with destructive ones. They force the rest of the body to adapt to their needs, and they inflict pain on those nearby.
Once started, drugs are difficult to stop abusing—even when everyone is aware of their negative effects.
Planners and elected officials in US cities are mired in the wishful thinking of a drug abuser. They’re aware that projects that benefit automobile use will diminish transit ridership and increase greenhouse gas emissions. They just want one more dose, one more chance to address the needs of car users.
“the politics of wishful thinking: american cities and their commitment to the expressway.” thetransportpolitic, 17.07.18.
about chicago’s lake shore drive—how the possibility of tearing down a roadway that prioritizes car use and blocks access to the waterfront has never really been up for discussion.
citymaus reblogged
Heron
Steven Anderson
Miller St@ 23rd St in Oakland, Ca
The art on the overpass was painted several years ago in a production that included Nite Owl, Granillo, Stay Aware and Ondr.
thousands shut down chicago highway with gun control march.
“Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the city’s police superintendent had voiced support for the protest, which was led by the Rev Michael Pfleger, the charismatic Catholic priest heading a largely African American church in one of the South Side neighborhoods hard-hit by gang violence.
Illinois governor Bruce Rauner called the shutdown “unacceptable.” The Republican said in a tweet Saturday that he was “disappointed” in Emanuel, and called on him to “take swift and decisive action to put an end to this kind of chaos.”
Emanuel responded in a tweet: “It was a peaceful protest. Delete your account.””
read more: guardian, 07.07.18.
“The unintended consequences of American transportation policy are the subject of Stanford political scientist Clayton Nall new book, The Road to Inequality: How the Federal Highway Program Polarized America and Undermined Cities.
“Democrats and Republicans have long held different residential preferences, with Republicans more likely to prefer a suburban lifestyle and Democrats more likely to live in central cities. But it was not until the 1950s when modern highways were built that they had the capacity to act on their preferences, at least for those who could afford it.
As a result, this highway-induced residential migration led to more polarized metropolitan areas that leaned more liberal and poorer, said Nall, an assistant professor of political science. In turn, this polarization created partisan differences about how to implement transportation policy – think highways, mass transit and trains – in communities across the country.
baltimore’s road to nowhere, via “roads to nowhere: how infrastructure built on american inequality.” guardian, 21.02.18.
“Nall’s research shows that transportation policymaking matters greatly to the politics of mobility. Transportation systems deliver opportunity, said Nall. For many urban poor, upward economic mobility is road blocked, literally because of partisan differences. As Nall noted, many Republicans are now a largely nonurban party and oppose urban investment.”
read more: stanfordnews, 26.03.18.
baltimore’s “road to nowhere”, “a giant ditch that bisects West Baltimore neatly into north and south. Officially named State Route 40, it was originally intended to be a key part of a proposed east-west freeway presented as crucial to the city’s growth. This gigantic project upended hundreds of lives, transformed an entire landscape and cost tens of millions of dollars.”
recommended read: “roads to nowhere: how infrastructure built on american inequality.” guardian, 21.02.18.
caltrans district 4 (covers the 9 bay area counties) is working on a bike plan.
check out this map where you can comment on projects to be included in the plan. these projects are related to state highways, either along, across, or parallel. comments are due by this friday 22.12.17.
more info: community workshop presentation, 30.11.17 [pdf].