Years old toll malfunctions still haunt motorists.

Published Friday, May 20, 2005, in the San Francisco Chronicle

It tolls for thee -- bridge scofflaws get notice
Collection agency seeks payments for Golden Gate district

By Michael Cabanatuan

Thousands of motorists who -- knowingly or not -- zipped past the
Golden Gate Bridge's distinctive toll booths in the FasTrak lanes as
long as four years ago without paying are receiving notices from a
collection agency, some seeking hundreds of dollars.

The bridge district, which is trying to eliminate a deficit projected
to total $70 million over the next five years, has turned over
thousands of toll violations dating back to 2001 to OSI Collection
Services.  Many of the collection notices were sent out this week.

Mary Currie, bridge district spokeswoman, said the collection effort
was a matter of fairness and fiscal responsibility for an agency
contemplating increases in bridge tolls and bus and ferry fares to
balance its budget.  About $550,000 in tolls and $3.2 million in
penalties are being turned over to the collection agency.

"We don't want our good customers -- the ones who pay their tolls when
they go through the FasTrak lanes -- to have to pay more to make up
for those who don't pay," said Sally Hinds, the bridge district's
FasTrak coordinator.

The bridge district introduced its FasTrak system in July 2000.  As it
rolled out, expanded and streamlined its electronic toll-taking, the
district let many toll evaders go.  It sent out two notices to
motorists whose tolls hadn't been collected by the electronic toll
system, then stopped pursuing those scofflaws who still hadn't paid
up.

Until recently.  Last fall, the district decided to clean up its
backlog of violations.  It dismissed all toll violations from the
system's first six months, issued letters warning toll evaders with
multiple violations including at least one in 2004 that a hold would
be put on their car registrations until the bill was paid and turned
over cases involving multiple older violations to the collection
agency.

Some of those bills can be pretty steep.  With fines increasing for
each violation, someone who ran the toll booth without paying five
times would pile up more than $300 in tolls and penalties.

The bridge district expects that OSI will collect about $750,000.
After the company is paid commissions, the bridge district would
pocket about $530,000, according to a district report.

Currie acknowledged that the FasTrak system had some flaws in its
earlier days, including an inability to read some of the supposedly
compatible FasTrak transponders that Caltrans issued to East Bay
commuters.  Other problems may have caused some notices to be sent to
incorrect addresses or assessed to the wrong vehicles.

Hinds said the district would waive the penalties -- but still collect
the overdue tolls -- for anyone who could convince the agency they had
never received the notices demanding payment or had a valid FasTrak
account at the time of the violation.

Anyone who believes they received the violation notice in error should
contact the collection agency, which will work with the bridge
district to investigate, Currie said.

"We're not here to take money from people who don't owe it," she said.
"If you didn't go through, we don't want you to pay.  But if you're a
repeat violator, you need to pay up."


E-mail Michael Cabanatuan at mcabanatuan@...

Message-ID: <42848B36.18EDCCDB@...>
  Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 07:10:46 -0400
  From: "Scott M. Kozel" <kozelsm@...>

GuyPOlsen@... wrote:
>
> Larry Gross wrote:
>
> > A private builder, Fluor Corp., agreed with VDOT to build four new toll
> > lanes on the Capital Beltway for $900 million - a bargain compared to
> > the $2.4 billion the new lanes would cost if built by VDOT.
> >
> > That kind of saving is the benefit touted by advocates of Virginia's
> > Public Private Transportation Act, which lets private companies build
> > roads - usually toll roads - at their own risk for a profit.
> >
> > It begs the question, though: How could Fluor build four lanes in
> > highly congested Northern Virginia for just 37 percent of VDOT's cost?
> >
> > Easy. They cut down the size of the lanes and shoulders. They'll use
> > the current exits and on-ramps. Fluor does not plan to engineer the
> > road to every Federal Highway Administration standard, which VDOT has
> > to meet when it builds roads.
>
> Don't Interstates have to be built -- or rebulit -- to Interstate
> standards, no matter who is paying for them??

Yes indeed.  The reporter is mistaken.

Any improvement project on an Interstate highway (he is referring to a
proposed project on I-495) must meet FHWA standards, and cannot be built
without FHWA design approval.

They did NOT "cut down the size of the lanes and shoulders" -- the Fluor
Capital Beltway proposal (not finally approved by either FHWA or VDOT,
by the way) calls for the existing cross section with four 12-foot lanes
each way with a 10-foot left shoulder and a 10-foot right shoulder, to
be expanded to six 12-foot lanes each way with a 12-foot left shoulder
and a 12-foot right shoulder, with the two HOT lanes to be
concurrent-flow lanes to the left of the four general purpose lanes,
separated by a 4-foot flush separator (4-foot width of full-depth
pavement).

Existing one-directional paved x-Sect - left to right
-----------------------------------------------------
10-foot shoulder
12-foot GP lane
12-foot GP lane
12-foot GP lane
12-foot GP lane
10-foot shoulder

Proposed one-directional paved x-Sect - left to right
-----------------------------------------------------
12-foot shoulder
12-foot HOT lane
12-foot HOT lane
4-foot flush separator
12-foot GP lane
12-foot GP lane
12-foot GP lane
12-foot GP lane
12-foot shoulder

As I have said in the past, the reason why this is so much cheaper than
the $2.4 million most-expensive alternative that the reporter mentions,
is because the most expensive alternative would have an outer separator
at least 26 feet wide between the HOT lanes and the general purpose
lanes, and much of the 14 miles of the project would have continuous
2-lane collector distributor roadways, therefore much of the 14 miles
would be 16 lanes wide on six separate roadways, and most of the
interchanges would be greatly expanded.  This alternative would require
right-of-way that would acquire over 300 homes and businesses.

IOW, the reporter is comparing apples to oranges, or more precisely, two
very different alternatives.

The reporter also said --
   'VDOT's I-81 Web site says at the top, "No plans or proposals can be
   implemented without the approval and concurrence of the Federal
   Highway Administration.  Because the interstate system is federally
   funded, any proposed changes to the highway must comply with all
   federal laws."'

Let's read the above as many times as is necessary.  No Interstate
upgrade project can be built unless FHWA approves the design.  Who pays
for the upgrade is irrelevant.

The reporter also said --
   'But if the Northern Virginia toll lanes are an indication, the
   public-private negotiating process provides a route around federal
   highway standards for such safety comforts as wide shoulders and
   new ramps with better alignments.'

That's nonsense.

The state's public-private negotiating process (PPTA) cannot build
anything whatsoever on an existing Interstate highway unless FHWA first
approves the design.  The proposal calls for 12-foot left and right
shoulders, which are the widest used anywhere.

And I repeat, on the "Northern Virginia toll lanes" project, neither the
final design nor the project itself has received approval from either
VDOT or FHWA.

--
Scott M. Kozel    Highway and Transportation History Websites
Virginia/Maryland/Washington, D.C. http://www.roadstothefuture.com
Philadelphia and Delaware Valley   http://www.pennways.com

From: "HoustonFreeways" <eslotboom@...>
  Newsgroups: misc.transport.road
  Subject: Dallas: homeless camp under I-45 razed
  Date: Wed, 11 May 2005 16:02:01 -0500
  Message-ID: <i5mdnXpWGKta7x_fRVn-gA@...>

This is an entertaining story. The homeless camp was quite elaborate. It was
underneath the I-45 elevated structure south of I-30, just southeast of
downtown.

I am always on the freeway main lanes when passing through that area (I'm
not looking to score any crack), so I didn't see the camp for myself.

The city wants TxDOT to fence off the right-of-way to prevent a new camp
from springing up.


http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/city/dallas/stories/051105dnmet\
camp.9635c2cd.html

City razes homeless camp downtown

Residents vow to return; officials face task of breaking cycle

08:39 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 11, 2005

By KIM HORNER / The Dallas Morning News

[PHOTO CAPTION]The large homeless camp downtown under Interstate 45 was one
of Dallas' most elaborate, with sprawling cardboard shacks, tents,
porta-potties and a microwave powered by electricity tapped from a
billboard.
[Click image for a larger version]


RICKY MOON/Special Contributor
Mackie Choice wondered why the city removed his belongings and those of
other homeless people Tuesday.

It's gone, for now. The city razed the camp Tuesday after warning residents
last week that they were violating an ordinance against sleeping in public.

But the homeless who populated the camp say they will return to the spot at
I-45 and Coombs Street - as they have before. The city, which has repeatedly
bulldozed that location and others for years only to see shantytowns spring
back up, faces the challenge of breaking the cycle.

"It's such a hassle because it's almost like a game," said Mackie Choice, a
48-year-old homeless man who said he has been "evicted 1,000 times."

Dave Hogan, manager of the city's Crisis Intervention Unit, said the city
has asked the Texas Department of Transportation to put up an 8-foot fence
to prevent people from coming back this time.

"We really can't let these camps grow gigantic like that," Mr. Hogan said.
"They become crack havens with prostitution, and just about everything goes
on there."

Mark Ball, spokesman for the Transportation Department, said his agency -
which asked the city to do something about the camp - will look into putting
up the fence.

City officials estimated that 100 adults lived at the I-45 camp. For the
first time, the city - accused of not giving fair warning in the past - gave
residents written notices last week. Officials also offered residents drug
and alcohol treatment along with mental health and housing services.

The camp was spilling into South Dallas neighborhoods, generating complaints
that included people sleeping in doorways, said Karen Rayzer, director of
the city's Environmental and Health Services Department.

She said the city is ready to demolish the camp again if needed. City
officials say they hope the action gives residents incentives to treat their
drug and alcohol addictions and mental illnesses.

Dallas Crisis Intervention Unit caseworkers Marilu Thorn (left) and Carole
Webster told homeless people last week that their camp would be razed.

James Waghorne, president of the Dallas Homeless Neighborhood Association,
said displacing the homeless from the camps won't push them into treatment.

"It doesn't work that way," said Mr. Waghorne, a social worker who used to
be homeless and lived in a camp that repeatedly was razed.

He said that being ready to change one's life comes from inside and that
more residents may seek help if the city offered a higher level of services
instead of driving people from the only homes they know.

"They're not ready to get treatment, but they still need a place to go," he
said.

The city hired four new outreach caseworkers in January, bringing the total
to six. Additionally, the city's homeless task force is considering an
outdoor area where people who refuse treatment could live in tents. The tent
area would be part of a long-planned homeless shelter and assistance center
downtown. Social workers would attempt to build residents' trust so they
would accept treatment in time.

The city has tried to clear out homeless camps for years. City officials
evicted about 200 people from a shantytown near the currently razed camp
before the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament. Many were placed in temporary
housing, but others began sleeping elsewhere downtown.

A class-action suit after the World Cup contended the city's ban on sleeping
in public was unconstitutional and punished people for being homeless.
Although a federal judge agreed, an appeals court decision allowed the city
to enforce the ban.

A local count this year found 5,898 homeless residents in Dallas County.
Many live in encampments throughout the Dallas city limits, and some say
they do not want to go to shelters that charge money and restrict their
activities.

Deborah Brooks said the I-45 camp had been home to her and her two dogs,
Simba and Dude, for three months. The 49-year-old woman said that she works
part time at a temporary agency but that a felony drug possession conviction
makes it impossible to rent an apartment. She said that she does not go to
shelters because she likes to drink.

Before the razing, Ms. Brooks said that she was grateful for the new green
and yellow dome tents, portable toilets and Dumpsters donated recently. She
was furious at the city's demolition plans.

"What's the big deal?" she said. "We're not bothering anybody."

E-mail khorner@...

Published Friday, May 13, 2005, in the San Jose Mercury News

Police crack down on cycling rules
CRACKDOWN ON KIDS IN P.A.: 200 CITATIONS IN FOUR DAYS

By Julie Patel
Mercury News

Palo Alto police nabbed eighth-grader Matt Jost on Thursday riding
his bike with one hand on the handlebars and the other on his cell
phone. The day before, an officer caught him riding the wrong way
down the street.

Two days, two citations. Welcome to the streets of Palo Alto, where
kids are learning this week that riding your Rally without a helmet
or bolting your BMX through a stop sign can land you up to $70 in
fines and court costs or a trip to bicycle safety school.

Palo Alto police are out in force this week, patrolling around the
city's schools for cyclists breaking the law. In four days, they've
given out more than 200 citations to bike riders as young as 11.
That's more than double the 84 bicycle citations they issued all
last fiscal year, said Sgt. Steve Herrera, supervisor of the Palo
Alto Police Department's traffic team.

Too harsh? Some parents and students say a stern talking-to would be
enough, but Palo Alto police say the crackdown -- a week before Bike
to Work and School Week -- is an important tool to get the message
to stick about bicycle safety. Instead of the fine, students can opt
for a bike safety course.

Shrug off warnings

"If you give them a warning," Herrara said, "they're more likely to
ride off and say, 'Yeah, whatever,' "

With more than 30 miles of bicycle lanes, Palo Alto prides itself
as one of the Bay Area's most bike friendly cities. But police say
there's no need to wait for a surge in accidents to stress bicycle
safety. In fact, bicycle-related accidents in the city are
declining -- with 64 last year and only 11 this year.

Zooming his bike home from Terman Middle School through the tree-
lined streets of his Palo Alto neighborhood is usually the highlight
of Matt's day. He was talking to his dad on the cell phone when an
officer waved him over Thursday outside Juana Briones Elementary
School and flipped open the citation book.

"You really have to have both hands on the handlebars, OK?"
Herrera told Matt, who sat on his bike looking down at the road
gloomily. "You can't really pay attention and control the bike
otherwise."

"I didn't even know that was a rule," Matt, a Terman student,
muttered afterward.

Driving a car and talking on the phone is not against the law.

Safety course ahead

Matt remembers bringing home bike safety information at the start
of the school year but admits he didn't read it. Now, Matt said he
plans to take the safety course to avoid paying his two $20 fines.

Marc Mallari, 13, got a ticket Tuesday for riding his bike the wrong
way on a sidewalk. His 15-year-old brother, Marverick Mallari, was
cited for the same thing, the same day -- and stopped again Thursday
for blowing a stop sign but was let off with a warning.

The Mallari brothers wrote a letter to Palo Alto city leaders last
year to ask for bike lanes on Maybell Avenue in Palo Alto to make it
safer. The said they had been riding the wrong way on a sidewalk on
Arastradero Road for years and didn't know it was illegal.

"It's like we generally know about bike safety. We try to follow all
the rules and even tried to make it safer, and here we are getting
pulled over for something we didn't know about," Marc said.

Mallari's father, Mars Mallari, said schools should do a better job
of informing students of what's right or wrong.

"It's not fair," he said. "If it's about education, you should teach
them the rules before jumping to give tickets."

Expresses shock

Matt Jost's mother, Stephanie Jost, said she didn't agree with
police issuing tickets for "counterintuitive or obscure" rules like
citing her son for talking on his phone while riding. She said she
was shocked that it was his second ticket in one week. But she said
she's not against the crackdown, and added:

"The more you pound in the importance of being safe, the better off
we're going to be."


Contact Julie Patel at jpatel@... or (650) 688-7550.

PLAN WOULD REQUIRE DRIVERS TO PROVE IMMIGRATION STATUS
Published Tuesday, May 3, 2005, in the San Jose Mercury News

License bill set to clear Congress
PLAN WOULD REQUIRE DRIVERS TO PROVE IMMIGRATION STATUS

By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News

A plan that would require all 50 states to verify the immigration
status of residents applying for or renewing driver's licenses
appears headed for approval in Congress.

The controversial proposal, negotiated in committee Monday, is part
of a spending bill that would provide money for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The plan, called Real ID, has been opposed by state
agencies that issue driver's licenses, immigrants and their
advocates, and civil libertarians.

President Bush is among the plan's supporters. He described it as a
national security measure.

"Our hopes are dashed," said state Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles,
the legislator who had pushed for a bill in the state that would
allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's licenses.

Under the proposed federal standards, motorists would have to prove
their immigration status to get a driver's license, and agencies
that issue licenses would have to verify documents such as Social
Security cards and birth certificates. If the bill becomes law,
states have three years to meet the new federal standards. Residents
from states that do not comply will find their driver's licenses
refused as official identification.

Cedillo believes the new legislation will allow California to issue
licenses to one group of state residents who currently cannot have
California licenses: immigrants who have pending applications for
green cards.

States still could give licenses to illegal immigrants, under the
new legislation, according to the Associated Press. But those
licenses would be coded differently, and cannot be used as
identification to board a plane or enter federal buildings, the AP
said. Eleven states now grant driver's licenses to non-citizens who
do not have visas.

Many in California have opposed the coded license for undocumented
immigrants because they're afraid it will be an invitation to
discrimination. But Cedillo said there is existing technology that
will make all driver's licenses look virtually alike, distinguished
only by special machines that read the coding.

"We have to come up with some hybrid that permits undocumented
immigrants to drive legally," Cedillo said.

In the Bay Area, opponents of Real ID expressed disappointment
Monday. The legislation still needs Senate and House approval.

"It's a huge disappointment," said Samina Faheem-Sundas, founder and
executive director of the American Muslim Voice, a Bay Area non-
profit group that denounced Real ID. "It seems to me that only
things that are anti-immigrant are coming out of Congress these
days."

Richard Konda, executive director of Asian Law Alliance, a non-
profit legal-aid group in San Jose, echoed a criticism that's
plagued Real ID.

"This very important issue is being connected to a spending bill,"
Konda said, "when in fact it needs to be debated as part of our
discussions on immigration reform."

Said Larisa Casillas, policy director for Services, Immigrant Rights
and Education Network, "I really feel democracy was not served in
this case."

Attaching Real ID to a spending bill "stifled real discussion."

But supporters also say the measure will help control illegal
immigration. Caroline Espinosa of NumbersUSA, a group that lobbies
for tighter borders and tougher immigration laws, said, "This is
really targeted toward national security but a side effect would be
discouraging illegal immigrants from coming into the United States
and making it more difficult for them to open a bank account, buy a
house, rent a car or buy a car."

The supplemental spending bill also contains a provision that
establishes tougher standards for people seeking asylum in the
United States, and allows judges reviewing asylum applications
more lenient standards for rejecting claims, according to the AP.

However, in the negotiated Senate version, asylum applicants will
have a chance to appeal.

Human rights advocates and civil libertarians in the Bay Area
denounced these provisions, worried that legitimate victims of
political or religious persecution will be turned away at U.S.
ports of entry.

Finally, the war-spending bill will permit the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security to build a security fence on the U.S.-Mexico
border near Tijuana, bypassing strict environmental laws.


The Associated Press and the New York Times contributed to this
report. Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@... or
(408) 920-5794.

Not all bulb-outs are islands of safety; 8 to be axed

Published Monday, May 2, 2005, in the Sacramento Bee

Back-seat driver

By Tony Bizjak
Bee Staff Writer

We admit it. We are fascinated by bulb-outs

Here is the latest on the city of Sacramento's adventure of building
little concrete islands in the street -- a few feet from the
sidewalk -- at downtown and south midtown intersections. Bulb-outs
are designed to slow traffic and give pedestrians a chance.

The city now has decided to remove eight of its 60 new bulb-outs
because the eight have turned out to be traffic hazards.
City officials say cyclists, truck drivers, residents and especially
RT bus drivers say certain bulb-outs force them into oncoming
traffic when turning on some midtown corners.

Bulb-outs "are a work in progress," city traffic department
spokeswoman Linda Tucker said.

*

Bulb-outs aren't the only bump in the road for buses lately. Bus
agencies have been running into the red.

You've probably read here that Sacramento's Regional Transit
District says it needs to raise fares on buses and light-rail
trains. The basic fare could go from $1.50 to $1.75 or $2.

But Sacramento is not alone.

Bay Area Rapid Transit officials last week said they may start
charging up to $5 for parking at their train stations and raise
ticket prices by up to 15 cents to keep service at decent levels,
according to Bay Area media reports.

BART officials already have lowered their standards for cleanliness
at stations. That's not a joke. That's an actual policy decision.

The San Francisco Muni railway, bus and cable car system also looks
to be raising rates, possibly 25 cents.

Bus and commuter train officials say their financial woes are caused
by ... well, you name it. Federal and state funding sources have
been reduced or are on hold, while operating costs of all sorts
continue to climb.

[...]

E-mail your transportation concerns to backseat@... or call
The Bee's Tony Bizjak at (916) 321-1059.

Studies must be done to show where higher speed limits will be allowed.


         Posted on Thu, May. 05, 2005
Don't go 70 on state highways just yet
Studies must be done to show where higher speed limits will be allowed.
By Mike Smith
of The Associated Press

Daniels: Governor is expected to sign legislation

INDIANAPOLISb Motorists in Indiana should soon be able to legally push
the pedal to the metal a little harder on many miles of Indianab<<Back
s interstates and four-lane highways.

But even though higher speed limits would take effect July 1 under a
bill passed by the General Assembly, it might take transportation
officials longer to decide precisely where the higher limits will be
allowed.

Jessica Stevens, a spokeswoman for the Indiana Department of
Transportation, said the agency must first conduct engineering studies
to determine which highways that are eligible for the higher limits
can safely handle them.

blimits on rural sections of interstates from 65 mph to 70 mph for
cars and from 60 mph to 65 mph for large trucks. Those sections are
defined as those outside urban areas with populations of 50,000 or
more, so they would include parts of interstates 64, 65, 69, 70, 74
and 94. The limit also would be 70 mph for cars on the Indiana Toll
Road in northern Indiana.

Limits on rural sections of divided, four-lane highways such as
U.S. 31 and U.S. 41 would increase from 55 mph to 60 mph if approved
by transportation officials. The opposite lanes would have to be
separated by a physical barrier or an intervening space not designed
for traffic.

Limits also would go from 60 mph to 65 mph on sections of U.S. 20 and
U.S. 31 in Elkhart and St. Joseph counties.

The cost of posting new speed limit signs, or overlaying the markings
on current ones, could cost taxpayers close to $164,000, according to
INDOT estimates.

The House has passed bills to raise speed limits on interstates in
rural areas and on some state highways several times since Congress
repealed the national speed limit of 65 mph in 1995. Those proposals
always died in the Senate, but this year, the primary bill started and
passed the Senate first, then sped to passage in the House.

Republican Rep. David Wolkins of Winona Lake, who has sponsored bills
for higher limits in recent years, said this sessionb<<Back s start in
the Senate finally helped push it to passage. He also said more
lawmakers were simply comfortable with the change.

bove 65 mph since 1995, according to the Insurance Institute for
Highway Safety. There have been conflicting studies on whether higher
highway limits result in more traffic fatalities. The Insurance
Institute of Indiana maintains that they do, but they were
unsuccessful in killing the bill this year.

Stevens said some sections of interstates and highways might have
posted higher limits on July 1. She noted that interstates were
designed for speeds higher than 65 mph.

bch sections of four-lane highways are eligible for higher limits. The
agency must take several factors into account, including traffic
signals, the distances between them, and where signal-changing sensors
might have to be relocated.

She said the agency was not expecting the evaluations to be a
bhen. Transportation officials must conduct engineering studies to
determine where higher limits are safe and feasible.

Other info

At least 29 states have increased speed limits on rural interstates
since Congress repealed the national limit of 65 mph in 1995.



B) 2005 News Sentinel and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.fortwayne.com




====================================
IN Speed Limit Law Will Take Effect in July
May 8, 2005, 11:10 AM

(Indianapolis) -- A governor on a car is a device to slow things down,
but Indiana's governor in the statehouse is speeding things up.

Governor Mitch Daniels has signed into law a bill raising the speed
limits on some Indiana roads. But hold on Mr. and Mrs. Leadfoot, you
need to know where and when will the new speed limit signs will go up.

The earliest the signs will change will be July 1 when the law takes
effect.

Most rural interstates jump from 65 to 70 for cars.

Carrie Kinsey of Howard County got right to the point. "You think
they're not going 70 now? They're going 70."

But what happens when it goes to 70? Kinsey said, "They'll go however
fast they'll go. Either they'll get tickets or they won't."

Due north it's already 70.

"In Michigan, people are going about 70, maybe 75. But the higher
speed limit seems to be able to allow people to travel the speed they
would like within the speed limit," Scott Valmassei of Troy Michigan
said.

Large trucks on rural interstates will get to speed up too. 60 now,
soon 65.

Jim Thate is a truck driver. He talked to News 8 about his thoughts on
the current speed limit. "It's bad because the cars are going so slow
and the cars are going so fast, it's hard for us to get over, can't
get over, they won't let you over."

Another trucker driver, Alfred Mason said, "If you can run with the
cars, and you're a safe driver... I think it's okay."

There are other changes. Rural sections of four lane divided highways,
like State Road 37 to Bloomington will move from 55 to 60. But I-465
around Indianapolis will remain at 55 because most of Marion County is
considered too urban.

Ever since the federal government repealed the national maximum speed
limits, more than half of all states have gone up to 70 miles an
hour. A dozen have gone up to 75.

But when the new signs get posted here is largely up to the Indiana
Department of Transportation. Engineering studies will have to be done
by INDOT to make sure some sections of highway can handle the
increased speed.

Mike Clementoni of Muncy Pennsylvania said, "I think they need to fix
the roads better than what they are in some areas before they increase
it."

What might not change is just how much wiggle room you think you have
between the posted speed and a potential speeding ticket. Part of the
new law raises the court costs on speeding tickets to help fund pay
raises for judges and prosecutors.

All content B) Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow and WISH-TV. All Rights
Reserved.



================================================
It's in a conference committee because the House added an
"aggressive driving" provision at the last minute.  Aside
from a higher fine for violating three laws instead of one,
the current form of the bill would increase the statutory
speed limit in rural areas from 65/60 to 70/65 on Interstates,
from 55 to 65 on other freeways, and from 55 to 60 on divided
highways.

(The aggressive driving law requires a "knowing and intentional
violation, which means unlike a normal speeding case they have
to prove intent to speed to use speeding as one of the three
predicate offenses.)
================================================


Those who complain about Iowa's current 65 MPH speed limit being too
slow can stop complaining. Today, Gov. Tom Vilsack said that he will
sign House File 826 into law, which will raise the speed limit on
Interstates to 70 MPH while increasing fines for speeding. (IMO, given
Vilsack's past opposition to raising the speed limit, this was probably
the only way it had a chance of passing.)

Des Moines Register story:
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050419/NEWS/50419001/1\
001/NEWS

Text of HF 826:
http://coolice.legis.state.ia.us/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=billinfo&Service=\
Billbook&ga=81&hbill=HF826

The new law will take effect July 1. They'll probably phase 70 MPH in
the way they phased in 65 MPH back in the late 1980s, keeping slower
speed limits in cities while increasing the speed in rural areas.

--Jason <http://www.iowahighways.org>
==================================================

Moves Affect More Than a Third of Highways, Bridges and Tunnels That Currently
Charge Fees

"Steep Increases Set for Toll Roads"
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

By DANIEL MACHALABA
April 12, 2005; Page D1

There is a new bump in the road for commuters already stressed out by
sky-high gasoline prices and gridlocked drives to work. Tolls on more
than a third of the 5,000 miles of highways, bridges and tunnels that
make drivers pay to use them have either been raised during the past
year or are set to increase by the end of next month.

The toll increases are steep and affect millions of commuters on some of
the busiest traffic arteries in the U.S. It now costs $3 -- up from $2
last summer -- to cross the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and six
other state-owned bridges in the Bay Area. Pennsylvania socked drivers
with an average price rise of 43% on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the
fastest route between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The New York State
Thruway Authority plans an average increase of 25% for cars and 35% for
trucks starting in mid-May on the 641-mile highway system, the country's
longest toll road. Tolls there will rise as high as $18.50, from the
current $14.70.

Road and bridge officials say the increases are desperately needed to
repair or rebuild thoroughfares crumbling after decades of surging
traffic. Pennsylvania's toll increase last August was its first since
1991. Tolls on the New York State Thruway haven't changed since 1988.

At the same time, the number of vehicles on U.S. roads, including trucks
and buses, has far outstripped the increase in the number of miles of
new roads added. And fuel taxes traditionally used to pay for highways
aren't bringing in enough money to fix existing roads. Proceeds from
toll roads also help subsidize subways, buses, commuter trains and even
the Erie Canal in upstate New York.

TAKING A TOLL  Some of the rate increases on major toll roads around the
country Toll Roads, Bridges and Tunnels  Length  Toll Hike
New York State Thruway  641 miles  25%*
Dulles Toll Road (northern Virginia)  14 miles  100
MTA Bridges and Tunnels (New York)  13 miles  13
Maine Turnpike  106 miles  22
Illinois Tollway (Chicago)    274 miles  56
Pennsylvania Turnpike  531 miles  43
Kansas Turnpike  236 miles  5
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area)  32
miles  50
*For cars; truck tolls will rise 35%

"It's a new dawn for toll roads," says Jack Hartman, executive director
of the Illinois Tollway. Proceeds from a 56% toll increase in January
are being plowed into a 10-year project that will replace stretches of
the 274-mile highway network with more-durable pavement, new lanes and
an extension into fast-growing areas southwest of Chicago.

The higher tolls add up to more misery for commuters already battered by
rising gas prices. Average prices for regular unleaded gasoline are now
at about $2.22 a gallon, up 44 cents from a year ago, according to the
Department of Energy.

As a result of the toll increases, Garen Tchopourian expects to spend an
extra $200 over the next year to cross the Throgs Neck Bridge during his
65-mile round-trip commute to his job as technical director of a
hedge-fund company in White Plains, N.Y. The bridge is one of nine
bridges and tunnels in the New York City area where tolls rose 13% last
month.

"When you put the gas price together with the increase in tolls, it
makes you think twice if you want to get that extra cup of coffee during
the day," says Mr. Tchopourian, who is 36 years old and has a newborn
baby.

The rising toll prices are leading drivers like Betsy Mercogliano, a
childbirth educator in Albany, N.Y., to take other forms of
transportation. Instead of paying about $20 in tolls during the 375-mile
drive to visit her parents in Washington, D.C., she and her husband try
to fly. One-way airfares on Southwest Airlines from Albany to
Baltimore/Washington International Airport are as low as $39.

Tolls on the New York State Thruway were supposed to disappear nearly a
decade ago, when the bonds that financed construction of the highway,
which opened in 1954, were paid off. But those plans were abandoned when
state officials decided that they wanted the Thruway, which carries 230
million vehicles a year, to fund another highway that is toll-free.
Continuing to levy the tolls shifts the burden of road-maintenance costs
to Thruway users rather than to all taxpayers.

Similar cross-subsidy arrangements are common in other states, too.
"It's not fair to make commuters who have to use their cars pay higher
tolls for something they won't use," says Ken Reid of Leesburg, Va., a
leader of a group urging drivers to boycott the Dulles Toll Road in
northern Virginia. The 14-mile road's maximum toll doubles to $3 next
month, with the increase helping to fund a new rail line.

While toll roads represent less than 1% of the 3.9 million miles of
roadways in the U.S., toll roads, bridges and tunnels collect about $6
billion a year, according to the International Bridge, Tunnel and
Turnpike Association. Almost a dozen states are either building new toll
roads, putting tollbooths on existing highways -- or seriously
considering one of those two steps. Legislation that would accelerate
the use of tolls on interstate roads is making its way through Congress.

For people who want to avoid the toll roads altogether, the costs aren't
insignificant. Typically that can mean a detour onto less-direct routes
that can strand drivers in snail-paced traffic through densely packed
downtowns or sprawling suburbs. The number of cars using the
Pennsylvania Turnpike is down by less than 1% since last summer's toll
increase.

Road officials say they are sympathetic to consumers faced with the
double whammy of rising tolls and gas prices. But they insist there is
no other way to fix problems like the stretch of rough road that forced
Mike Glesk, a strategic-planning consultant from Buffalo, N.Y., to hit
the brakes during a drive on the Thruway with his family last fall. "I'd
expect that on a two-lane back country road but not on a superhighway,"
he says.

Michael Fleischer, executive director of the New York State Thruway
Authority, says "simple fixes and Band-Aid solutions are no longer the
right, cost-effective solutions." The impending toll increases will pay
to rebuild entire sections of the highway, he says.

Some toll-road operators are trying to soften the impact of higher tolls
with smaller increases for drivers who pay electronically, using a
transponder mounted on a car windshield that automatically deducts tolls
from a customer's prepaid account. The Illinois Tollway plans to install
overhead devices so that electronic-pay drivers wouldn't have to use
tollbooths.

With no end in sight to the higher tolls spreading across the country,
Michael Lapolla, executive director of the New Jersey Turnpike
Authority, is trying at least to get frazzled commuters to their
destinations a bit quicker. Several toll barriers along the 173-mile
Garden State Parkway, where drivers now pay 35 cents apiece, are being
removed. (To compensate for that, the cost of the remaining tolls will
be doubled.)

Drivers are expected to save as much as five minutes from each stop that
is eliminated. "It's just common sense," Mr. Lapolla says.

[end article]

Study cites 41% jump in injury-accident rate on LBJ, 56% rise on I-35E
Front page on Dallas Morning News


HOV lanes impact: big bump in crashes

Study cites 41% jump in injury-accident rate on LBJ, 56% rise on I-35E

08:38 AM CDT on Tuesday, April 12, 2005

By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News

****photo and caption****
High-occupancy vehicle lanes along LBJ Freeway and Interstate 35E, built in
the mid-1990s to aid traffic flow, also have had a detrimental impact: a
considerable increase in crashes that injured people, a Texas Transportation
Institute study has found.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN

Vertical lane markers are used near the intersection of I-635 and I-35E to
guide motorists using HOV lanes.

****end photo and caption****

On LBJ Freeway, the crash rate jumped 41 percent from 1997 to 2000 when
compared with the rate before the HOV lanes were built. And on I-35E, the
crash rate leapt 56 percent. The study examined hundreds of crashes during
that period.

On both highways, the state and Dallas Area Rapid Transit built the carpool
lanes as a temporary measure and for the lowest cost possible. They feature
an open buffer zone of 2.5 to 3 feet between the HOV lane and general
traffic, with only a pair of white stripes separating the lanes. Motorists
can be ticketed for crossing the white lines.

Dozens of miles of HOV lanes are coming to North Texas by mid-2007. As that
deadline approaches, determining how best to design the lanes has assumed
greater importance. The study, released incrementally over the last year,
makes no recommendations about whether to redesign existing lanes, but it
does suggest that any future lanes built without barriers have a 4-foot
buffer zone, wider than those on LBJ and I-35E.

The Texas Department of Transportation says it is planning to build mostly
barrier-separated HOV lanes in the future. The department will make some
modifications to the planned HOV lane from Central Expressway in Richardson
and Plano, where space constraints prevent the installation of concrete
barriers between main and carpool lanes.

The modifications include installing a row of raised, flexible poles to
prevent traffic from unexpectedly entering or exiting the carpool lane,
which is the main cause of HOV-related crashes, the study found. The poles
are about 43 inches tall and sit in a raised 2-inch channel between solid
white lines on the highway that separate HOV and general lanes. They also
will provide a psychological barrier to motorists wanting to cross
illegally.

During peak hours, HOV lane traffic often travels at much higher speeds than
general traffic. That speed differential was the primary reason for the
higher crash rates, the report found. The inability of carpools to merge
into much slower general traffic also posed a problem, the report states.

"I don't want to say it was unsafe, but it is not a desirable condition,"
said Andy Oberlander, assistant director of transportation operations for
the Dallas district of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Also Online

Tell Us: How will the report affect your use of HOV lanes?

The study also reviewed safety records on the area's other long-term HOV
lane on Interstate 30. That lane features a movable concrete block barrier.
The study determined that the I-30 HOV lane did not have an effect on injury
crash rates.

"When possible, if there is room, a barrier-separated lane is the preferred
design," said Scott Cooner, an associate research engineer at the Texas
Transportation Institute's Arlington office.

About 350 of the flexible poles are used on a small portion of LBJ
Freeway."If you've got a difference in speed, these will give you a truer
sense of separation," Mr. Oberlander said.

Motorists do hit the poles, but the number of collisions has dropped
significantly since their installation about three years ago, said Koorosh
Olyai, assistant vice president for mobility programs for DART. Last month,
the transit agency replaced 18 of the 350 poles.

The poles on Central are expected to be spaced at distances so that law
enforcement can direct traffic around them in an emergency.

The state and DART will spend an estimated $1.6 million to install the poles
in both directions when the HOV lane opens by mid-2007. The Central
Expressway design could be used for carpool lanes on LBJ Freeway or I-35E,
but probably not anytime soon. Engineers say it probably will take several
years before they can collect enough data to be sure of the costs and
benefits associated with their use.

A limited amount of money for maintenance and safety projects means the HOV
projects would have to compete with installation of median barriers that
prevent head-on collisions, Mr. Oberlander said. In comparison, median
barrier installation costs about $250,000 per mile.

Overall, HOV lanes remain a "very successful investment," said Mr. Cooner,
who hopes to follow up the recent study with a review of more recent crash
data when it becomes available. "When you look at the DART ridership numbers
and the subsidy per passenger, HOV lanes make a lot of sense."

E-mail thartzel@...
EXTRA MILES WITH SAFETY IN MIND

A study has found higher crash rates on two of North Texas' high-occupancy
vehicle lanes. The region is moving forward with plans for dozens of miles
of new projects, but most will feature fixed barriers for added safety and
enforcement.

FUTURE PROJECTS

1. Interstate 30: Extend movable barrier reversible lane about 6 miles in
both directions from Jim Miller Road to just east of Interstate 635.

2. Interstate 30: Build multiple reversible lanes with fixed barriers from
Northwest 19th Street to near downtown Dallas. Lanes will have ability to
charge tolls to single occupant vehicles. Lanes also will meet planned
car-pool lanes with open buffer zones in Tarrant County.

3. Interstate 635: Build reversible lane with fixed barrier from Interstate
30 to Greenville Avenue; also build two lanes with buffer zones from
Greenville to existing lanes with open buffer zones around Preston Road.

4. U.S. Highway 75: Build two lanes with buffer zones and regularly spaced
vertical poles as barriers from Interstate 635 to Exchange Parkway.

EXISTING PROJECTS

5. Interstate 635: One lane with 3-foot open buffer zone in each direction
from Preston Road to around Interstate 35E or Luna Road. Study found a 41
percent increase in crash rates when compared to pre-HOV lane conditions.

6. Interstate 35E: One lane with 2.5-foot open buffer zone in each direction
from Interstate 635 to around the Bush Turnpike. Study found a 56 percent
increase in crash rates when compared to pre-HOV lane conditions.

7. Interstate 30: Movable barrier reversible lane from downtown Dallas to
Jim Miller Road. Study found little difference in crash rates before and
after HOV lane construction.

8. Interstate 35E/U.S. Highway 67: Combination fixed barrier reversible lane
and dual HOV lanes with open buffer zone. Crash rates were not studied on
this segment.

===============================================================
http://www.dallasnews.com/

The I-635 HOV lane is what I call a bastardized HOV lane, where the interior
shoulder is converted to a traffic lane. I'm curious to know if Los Angeles
has the same problem, since they have many more miles of bastardized HOV
lanes.
===============================================================

Residents work with the city to find ways to slow drivers who frequent side
streets

The News & Observer
Published: Apr 8, 2005
Modified: Apr 8, 2005 3:15 AM

Putting the brakes on shortcuts
Residents work with the city to find ways to slow drivers who frequent side
streets

By JAVIER SERNA, Staff Writer

RALEIGH -- If you think Rainwater Road is a shortcut, don't end up
behind Martha Endicott.

Young drivers speed down the street in droves when Millbrook High
School lets out, Endicott said.

"It becomes a drag strip," she said.

She drives really slowly when she's driving down Rainwater; It's all
she can do to impede their speed.

"I just want to tick them off enough so they won't want to turn onto
Rainwater anymore," she said.

City officials are working with frustrated residents such as Endicott,
who just want motorists to slow down on residential streets.

The city is proposing various "traffic calming" devices for a select
number of streets often used as shortcuts.

The options go beyond the commonly used speed bumps and raised
crosswalks, which aren't favored by planners. Among the more favored
options are:

* mini-traffic circles,

* bulb-outs -- curbs extending like a bubble into the street, and

* chicanes, a pair of bulb-outs sending traffic into a serpentine pattern.

The city began a public meeting process for the first five streets.

North Raleigh has three of the first five: Rainwater, Plaza Place and
Mourning Dove Road.

The city put feelers out to residents last year and came back with a
list of 93 streets. Then, traffic counts were considered in
prioritizing them. A new list is being developed by the city.

The first 10 streets are set. Each street selected gets two public
meetings.

At the meetings, a series of aerial maps have traffic-calming devices
penciled onto the road. Residents can request changes.

Next, petitions circulate for the changes, and 75 percent of the
residents on the stretch of road must approve. The petition also needs
support from 50 percent of those who can only access their property by
driving on the street.

Eventually, a sketch of the devices will be painted on the street to
give motorists a test run, according to Kathyrn Beard, transportation
programs engineer. Then, once the devices are installed, the road will
be evaluated for a year.

The city will begin verifying the signatures for the Plaza Place
project this week.

The second round of streets in the program will begin public forums
later this year. North Raleigh also has three of the five on that
list: Harps Mill Road, Shelley Road and North Bend Drive.

Beard said the process for each road could take about a year from the
time of the first public meeting.

The dozens of neighbors who showed up at the second meeting for
Rainwater Road last Thursday all seemed to agree things need to
change.

"You can't see down Hunting Ridge Road," said Mark Weiner, a resident
along Rainwater. "If you cross, you're taking your life into your own
hands."

One of the options, modifying an intersection, forces all traffic to
slow down by extending curbs out into the street and slightly
narrowing the intersection.

But the mini-traffic circle is what really caught Weiner's interest.

"I think the roundabouts are the best things going," he said.

The city has $450,000 for the project, and it's unclear how far that
money will go. If voters approve a recently proposed $40 million bond
referendum, the project could get another $3 million.

Endicott has witnessed several accidents, including a skateboarder hit
by a speeding high school driver.

And once she heard a radio traffic reporter urge listeners onto
Rainwater to avoid gridlock on Falls of the Neuse Road.

"They're just killing me," she said.


Staff writer Javier Serna can be reached at 836-4953 or
jserna@....

B) Copyright 2005, The News & Observer Publishing Company,
a subsidiary of The McClatchy CompanyMcClatchy Company



=======================================================================
http://www.northraleighnews.com/front/story/2293384p-8671593c.html

City officials are working with frustrated residents such as Endicott,
who just want motorists to slow down on residential streets.

The city is proposing various "traffic calming" devices for a select
number of streets often used as shortcuts.

The options go beyond the commonly used speed bumps and raised
crosswalks, which aren't favored by planners. Among the more favored
options are:

* mini-traffic circles,

* bulb-outs -- curbs extending like a bubble into the street, and

* chicanes, a pair of bulb-outs sending traffic into a serpentine
pattern.

...

One of the options, modifying an intersection, forces all traffic to
slow down by extending curbs out into the street and slightly
narrowing the intersection.

But the mini-traffic circle is what really caught Weiner's interest.

"I think the roundabouts are the best things going," he said.

The city has $450,000 for the project, and it's unclear how far that
money will go. If voters approve a recently proposed $40 million bond
referendum, the project could get another $3 million.

John Lansford, PE
=====================================================================

Council wants speed limit reduced on part of Bypass
By Chris Cooper-Managing Editor chriscnld@...

A resolution was passed by the Russellville City Council Tuesday
calling for a reduction in the speed limit on U.S. 68-80 Bypass
circling the city.

The resolution calls for the speed limit to go from 55 miles per hour
to 45 miles per hour from the intersections of U.S. Highway 431 North
to U.S. Highway 79 South.

The resolution states, "The 68-80 Bypass is a major transportation
route for traffic around the city and since its opening, the Bypass
has been increasingly used by both passenger and commercial vehicles.

"Since its opening, the Bypass, particularly at the intersection with
Kentucky Highway 178 (the Highland Lick Road), has been the site of
numerous serious automobile accidents.

By its very nature, the Bypass has been conducive to commercial real
estate development, which is both desired and welcomed, officials
said.

"Land has been sold, and is currently being developed, for a Wal-Mart
SuperCenter to be located at the intersection of the Bypass, thereby
creating a greater risk for automobile accidents. Other communities
have observed the establishment of a Wal-Mart SuperCenter will bring
with additional commercial development in the area immediately
surrounding such development, all of which will be on the Bypass.

"It is in the best interest of the health, safety and welfare of the
citizens of the city of Russellville for the speed limit to be reduced
on the Bypass from 55 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour because of
this upsurge in commercial development."

The U.S. 68-80 Bypass is a state highway and its speed limits is under
the control of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet,
Department of Highways. The resolution will be sent to the Department
of Highways.

Council wants speed limit reduced on part of Bypass

     A resolution was passed by the Russellville City Council Tuesday
     calling for a reduction in the speed limit on U.S. 68-80 Bypass
     circling the city.

Faster speed limits are set on Pa. Turnpike
All but 2 mountainous stretches to be 65 mph

Monday, April 11, 2005
By Joe Grata, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The speed limit soon will be a uniform 65 mph on the entire east-west
mainline of the Pennsylvania Turnpike except for mountainous stretches
on both sides of the Allegheny Tunnel.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has accepted an engineering and
safety study that recommended upping the travel speeds except between
mileposts 91 and 130.

An eight-mile stretch east of the Allegheny Tunnel and spanning the
Somerset-Bedford County border will remain at 55 mph because of its
curves, long downhill in the eastbound direction and long uphill in
the westbound direction.

Between mileposts 91 and 122 west of the Allegheny Tunnel, or between
the Donegal interchange and the tunnel, the speed will be "variable,"
either 55 mph or 65 mph depending on weather and traffic
conditions. State police will change the speed remotely, on new
electronic speed-limit signs.

Until the permanent signs are installed on that stretch, portable
signs will be used to post the speed limit.

Just as notably, the 55 mph maximum limit in effect on two sections of
the toll road since the 1970s, when the national speed limit was
lowered to 55 mph in response to an energy crisis, will be restored to
65 mph.

The speed restrictions on the turnpike north of Pittsburgh and
Philadelphia were kept in effect after the return to 65 mph elsewhere
for safety reasons, because the road lies within what the federal
government defines as an "urbanized area."

The speed limit is to be raised in time for the Memorial Day holiday
weekend that kicks off the three-month summer vacation season.

Presently, the speed limit is 55 mph over nine miles of urbanized area
between the Allegheny Valley and Pittsburgh interchanges and 86 miles
between New Stanton and Breezewood where the toll road doubles as
Interstate 70.

"Our intention had always been to get as much of the turnpike returned
to 65 mph where it's safe to do so," turnpike commission Chief
Executive Officer Joe Brimmeier said. "We are able to do it in
Westmoreland and Somerset counties where the road has been
reconstructed. We added lanes, straightened curves and made travel
safer for everyone."

The new signs for the "variable" zone between Donegal and the
Allegheny Tunnel may take a while to acquire and install, turnpike
commission spokesman Carl DeFebo said.

DeFebo noted, however, that the speed limit will still be 55 mph in
tunnels and at mainline toll barriers such as Warrendale, where the
turnpike has built high-speed E-ZPass lanes.

Here's a summary of speed limit changes to come on the 360-mile,
east-west mainline of the highway:

Mileposts 48 to 57 -- Raise to 65 mph between Allegheny Valley and
Pittsburgh (Monroe- ville) interchanges, a stretch that passes the
Oakmont Service Plaza.

Mileposts 75 to 91 -- Raise to 65 mph between New Stanton and Donegal
interchanges.

Mileposts 91 to 122 --Speed limit to be "variable" between Donegal and
Allegheny Tunnel in Somerset County, either 55 mph or 65 mph depending
on weather and driving conditions. State police will control the
interconnected electronic speed-limit signs.

Mileposts 122 to 130 -- The 55 mph speed limit to be retained in both
directions from Allegheny Tunnel to a point eight miles east in
Bedford County over mountainous section with numerous curves.

Mileposts 326 to 359 -- Raise to 65 mph between the Valley Forge
interchange east to Delaware River Bridge and the New Jersey line.

(Joe Grata can be reached at jgrata@... or 412-263-1985.)

Eighteen layoffs also part of city manager's proposed budget


Published Friday, April 29, 2005, in the Palo Alto Weekly

Traffic calming, summer stock programs face ax
Eighteen layoffs also part of city manager's proposed budget

By Bill D'Agostino

A controversial program to "calm" neighborhood traffic will cease,
a beloved summer theatre program for young adults will end, and
18 city employees will be laid off if the Palo Alto City Council
approves the city manager's proposed $120 million budget.

[...]

The "neighborhood traffic calming program," also proposed to be
permanently eliminated, works by asking locals to help conceive a
plan to slow the automobile traffic in their neighborhood, aiming
to make the streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians and reduce
car crashes. The program installs devises, including speed bumps,
stop signs and roadblocks, to achieve those goals.

However, the program has often caused divisions in some
neighborhoods, especially last year when the neighborhood
association in Downtown North got seven roadblocks installed as
part of a trial project. The City Council, after hearing loud
protests from opposing neighbors, voted to remove them and
test "traffic circles" in six of those intersections instead.

Neighborhood traffic projects already begun -- such as in the
College Terrace Neighborhood -- will still be completed, according
to city officials. Also, the city's transportation officials will
continue to work to increase the safety of school commutes using
similar methods.

[...]

Staff Writer Bill D'Agostino can be e-mailed at
bdagostino@...


[BATN: See also:

Palo Alto makes Channing Ave. traffic calming permanent
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/24127 ]

Slowing is safer than stopping.

Published Friday, May 6, 2005, in the Berkeley Daily Planet

Letters to the Editor

TRAFFIC CIRCLES

In <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/24172> Gary
Herbertson's letter to the Planet, he complained that cars that used
to stop at stop signs where traffic circles have been installed "are
now much more likely to glide through." I have observed the same
since circles were installed in the LeConte neighborhood a year ago.
But this is one of the virtues of traffic circles. Cars can glide
though (and cyclists, too, who rarely obey stop signs anyway).
Studies by the Institute of Transportation Engineers have shown
drastic reductions in right-angle and head-on collisions in yield-
controlled intersections. All stop signs should be removed in favor
of 4-way "Yield" signs, as common in France and Australia.
Gradually, drivers will learn how to navigate these circles with
safety and courtesy. I am more concerned about whether neighborhood
volunteers will actually maintain the plantings in the circles or
whether the circles will become a weed-infested display of passing
enthusiasm.

Robert Gable


Several people have written your paper complaining about
neighborhood traffic circles and their effect on pedestrian safety.
As a board member of both California Walks and America Walks I have
been active in investigating traffic control devices and their
effect on pedestrian safety.

The data is overwhelming that traffic circles improve the safety
of both pedestrians and drivers. After studding hundreds on
neighborhood traffic circles over several years in Portland and
Washington State the Institute of Transportation Engineers have come
to the conclusion that they reduce accidents 71 percent. They also
reduce noise from intersections from 68db to 60db. Their benefit for
pedestrians are first: they eliminate people running stop signs,
second they reduce speeds of cars in the intersection.

For pedestrians speed is critical for safety. At 20 mph a pedestrian
who is hit by a car has a 5 percent probability of dying. At 30 mph
a pedestrian has a 45 percent probability of dying if hit by a car.
At 40mph the probability of being killed by a car increases to 80
percent. Traffic circles on average reduce speeds of cars in
intersections from 34mph to 30mph. When they are designed right cars
find the most comfortable speed to be around 17mph. This has the
added advantage of decreasing the stopping distance for cars and
it increases the probability that cars will yield to pedestrians.

There are several studies now that also show an increase in home
value where traffic calming slows traffic speeds. In Suisn City
California, homes on streets with traffic calming sell for $5-15K
more than home without traffic calming.

If you care about pedestrian safety and your neighborhoods you will
find traffic circles can be a welcome improvement.

Marc Jensen
Los Gatos

The New York Times
May 1, 2005

Unmentioned Energy Fix: A 55 M.P.H. Speed Limit
By JAD MOUAWAD and SIMON ROMERO

President Bush made it clear last week that he sees no quick fixes to
the nation's energy woes. The problem has been long in coming, the
argument goes, and so will the solutions. But if history is any guide,
there is one thing he could do immediately: bring back the 55
miles-per-hour speed limit.

It has been done before. Along with record oil and gasoline prices,
improvements in fuel efficiency and a lasting economic recession,
speed limits helped curb fuel consumption for the first time in
American postwar history between 1974 and 1984.

Of course, energy eventually became cheap again, the economy expanded
and Americans became complacent and unwilling to make more sacrifices.

Instead of opting for small fuel-efficient cars, people switched to
large sport utility vehicles and larger pickups. As drivers groaned
and states fought for their right to speed, the limit was raised.

While oil consumption in most industrialized nations has either
leveled off or declined, in the United States, oil demand has soared
38 percent since the first oil shock of 1973.

The Bush administration's focus over the last four years has been to
increase the supply of oil and natural gas, which are also priorities
for the energy industry, instead of finding ways to cut back on energy
demand, which until very recently has been left out of the picture.

"We are in a boxing match, and the president keeps one hand tied to
his back," said Steven Nadel, the executive director for the American
Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, a nonprofit research group in
Washington. "We're punching with supplies and not using demand. We're
at a disadvantage."

Other industrialized countries, especially in Europe, have been much
more successful than the United States and have managed to actually
lower oil demand, or at least keep it in check. That comes from higher
diesel use and higher taxes. In France and Germany, a gallon of
gasoline sells for as much as $6, with taxes accounting for about 80
percent of that.

Few politicians in America might risk ridicule or rejection by
explicitly supporting higher taxes on gasoline, one of the surest ways
to limit the nation's dependence on oil.

"Even the least outrageous gasoline tax would have choked off some
demand, and the money would have gone to our own government instead of
being transferred overseas," said Robert K. Kaufmann, a professor of
geography at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston
University. "Of course, that would have to involve personal sacrifice,
which is off the table politically."

There are other ways to curb consumption that may be only slightly
less challenging, analysts say. One would be to increase the average
mileage per gallon requirement. After Congress passed legislation
forcing automakers to act in 1975, average mileage almost doubled to
27.5 miles a gallon in 1987 from 14 in 1972. But it has since slipped
back to 24 because of S.U.V.'s, and Congress shows no inclination to
toughen the standards.

Another way to sharply reduce demand - and improve mileage - would be
to encourage drivers to buy diesel cars, which offer as much as 60
percent more fuel efficiency, said Theodore R. Eck, an energy
consultant and former chief economist at the Amoco oil company.

"The neat thing here is that this is off-the-shelf technology," he
said. But the trade-off to diesel fuels also includes higher emissions
of nitrate oxide, a pollutant that is responsible for smog.

In a recent speech, President Bush suggested that diesel cars might be
made eligible for similar income tax credits as hybrid cars, which are
quickly turning into best sellers with long waiting lists.

The present predicament behind high oil prices is quite different than
the oil shocks of the 1970's and 1980's, which were a result of
producers in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cutting
oil supplies. Today, the price shock comes from rapidly increasing
demand, driven largely by China, but also by the United States and its
strong car culture.

After rising 33 percent in the last year, crude oil prices in New York
slipped below $50 a barrel on Friday for the first time in 10
weeks. They closed down nearly 4 percent at $49.72 a barrel.

Still, Americans can expect to pay record prices for gasoline this
summer. According to the latest national average compiled by the
Energy Department, gasoline prices at the pump averaged $2.24 a
gallon, up 42 cents from last year; they are expected to touch a
record $2.35 a gallon this summer.

Polls show that higher gasoline prices are increasingly hurting
Americans, and the president is pressing Congress to revive an energy
bill that has been stalled for four years.

Since the last energy shock of the 1980's, the economy as a whole has
shifted toward services and away from heavy industry and is now less
dependent on oil than it once was. But that has been more than offset
by the rise of oil demand for the transportation sector, which
accounts for two of every three barrels of crude oil consumed here;
gasoline alone amounts to half the nation's oil consumption.

"We've had this situation building up for years, and yet the focus
continues to be on the very long term," said Shirley Neff, an adjunct
professor at Columbia University and a former economist on the Senate
Energy Committee. "We have to focus on demand and be more efficient in
our energy use. We need something like an Apollo program for the
transportation sector."

But restricting demand might also weaken economic growth, an
unpalatable prospect for any government, especially at a time when
some are already blaming energy costs for a slowdown in growth.

"It's true that there is a limit to what you could achieve through a
traditional energy policy in one or two years," said Fridtjof Unander,
an analyst with the International Energy Agency, which advises
industrialized nations on ways to reduce their consumption.

The 55 miles-per-hour speed limit came as a result of the 1973 Arab
oil embargo. The Nixon administration ordered states to lower their
maximum limit to save fuel at a time when the first oil shock
threatened to bring the economy to a standstill.

After steadily rising each year, gasoline demand suddenly stopped
growing in 1974 and remained nearly flat for the next decade, keeping
oil consumption in check.

Roland Hwang, the vehicles policy director at the Natural Resources
Defense Council in San Francisco, estimated the savings of the speed
limit in 1983 at 2.5 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel, or
2.2 percent of the total use for these types of fuels.

But as gas lines faded from people's memories and energy prices went
down, the federal speed limit was relaxed in 1987, allowing states to
set higher caps of 65 miles an hour. Once more, gasoline consumption
surged.

Smaller efforts today could make a difference. For example, driving at
10 miles an hour above the 65 miles-per-hour limit increases fuel
consumption by 15 percent; inflating tires properly cuts gasoline use
by 2 percent; keeping engines idle while in line wastes millions of
gallons.

The trouble is that few drivers bother with these suggestions,
Mr. Hwang said. "People are basically too lazy to pump their tires
up."

Six years and $6 million after launching a broad initiative to ease ...

Published Sunday, March 20, 2005, in the Marin Independent Journal

Special report
Big spending, few results in Muir Woods traffic plan

By Keri Brenner

Six years and $6 million after launching a broad initiative to ease
traffic jams in and around Muir Woods, officials have built a 70-space
parking lot, held dozens of public meetings and produced a raft of
technical reports.

But little else has occurred to stem the traffic snarl: visitors are
feeling crowded instead of renewed by nature, and motorists are still
fuming in long lines, according to county surveys.

"Quite a lot of money has been spent with minimal result," said
Kristin Shannon of Muir Beach, secretary of a citizens group
representing 15 communities from Sausalito to Stinson Beach affected
by the car-choked roads and overrun parklands.

Marin County officials, frustrated by bureaucratic delays and red
tape, are grabbing their remaining purse of $1.9 million and opting
out of a joint pot shared with federal and state agencies.  They hope
to start a pilot shuttle bus program to Muir Woods by Memorial Day.

U.S. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, who worked to secure funding for
the transportation project, says she wants the other agencies to
finish their projects within three years or "the remaining parklands
appropriations funds shall be returned to Marin County," according to
a March 3 letter she sent to the Federal Highway Administration.

Federal officials vow to continue short-term fixes, such as research
on visitor capacity at Muir Woods and trail improvements.  They say
the studies and reports conducted so far provide vital baseline data
necessary for moving ahead with any projects.

"It's a challenge," said Michael Savidge, strategic planner for the
National Park Service in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
"We're trying to create a high-quality visitor experience, with less
community impact and a restored natural environment -- that's our
goal."

Since 1999, when officials launched the project to fix visitor
overload problems and traffic congestion at highways, beaches and
parklands around Muir Woods National Monument in southwestern Marin:

* More than $2 million has been paid to four consultants -- including
one whose chief planner lived on a sailboat in Guatemala for the
length of the project.  Another consultant was fired by the county in
2001 -- but not before receiving payment of about $240,000.

* Another $600,000 was spent on studies on alternative designs to
replace the Coyote Creek Bridge in Tam Junction near the Dipsea Cafe
and parts of the Tennessee Valley Trail.

* About $3.2 million was spent on a new 70-space park-and-ride lot
along Highway 101 that so far is only helping commuters to San
Francisco.  Eventually, it could be part of a pilot bus shuttle system
to Muir Woods.

About 20 technical reports have been produced and posted on a Web site
for the public <http://www.ctmpmarin.com>.  But some of those reports
have proved unpopular -- such as a proposal for a 400-space parking
garage along Highway 101 or on the Dias Ridge overlooking Muir Woods.

Community members say they are increasingly frustrated about repeated
plans they say ignore their environmental concerns, such as proposals
to close Muir Woods Road, pave over the Santos Meadows area for a
parking lot -- right near the wells for Muir Beach's groundwater
supply -- or establishment of a southern entrance to Stinson Beach.

Worse, they say, is that the most important thing -- protecting the
natural resources that generate the traffic in the first place -- is
getting lost in the shuffle.

"All of this work was done before doing any solid research on whether
or not Muir Woods is already over-capacity," Shannon said.  "No one
knows how many visitors Muir Woods can handle without further damage
to the heritage."

How it all began

Since 1992, transit and trail improvements have been included in a
community plan for the Tamalpais Valley area -- the gateway to Marin's
parklands.

When former Marin supervisor Annette Rose took office in 1992 to
represent Southern Marin and the Tam Valley, she put that on her to-do
list.  Within a short time, she had an idea for how to get it done.

Rose wanted to use a combination of shuttle buses and limited car
access to reduce traffic and increase parklands protection around
Muir Woods, Mount Tamalpais State Park and the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area.

She talked to Woolsey, who liked the plan and sought federal funds to
get it going.

By 1999, Woolsey had secured $1.5 million in federal public lands
money for transportation improvements and $2.85 million in congestion
management funds for the Manzanita park-and-ride lot expansion along
the east side of Highway 101 in front of the Shoreline Office Center.

Then it was time for public participation.  And things began to get
crowded.

In February 2000, 300 people jammed into the Tamalpais Valley
Community Center to discuss spending the first $2.3 million --
including Tennessee Valley trail improvements, the park-and-ride lot
expansion and replacement of Coyote Creek Bridge.

A parallel effort, the Comprehensive Transportation Management Plan,
was announced at the same meeting.  The joint project was a coalition
of government agencies designed to take a broad, regional view of
parklands traffic and visitor access issues at Muir Woods, Mount
Tamalpais and surrounding beaches and parks.

The coalition, however, was an octopus.  Three agencies were the main
partners -- Marin County, the National Park Service and the state
Department of Transportation.  But other agencies with stakes in the
parklands -- such as the California Department of Parks and
Recreation, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Golden
Gate Bridge District -- sent staff to the project's task force
meetings.

"The state parks department is a major landowner on Mount Tam and is
part of the study area," said Dean Powell, the county's principal
transportation planner.  "The Metropolitan Transportation Commission
sent staff to help facilitate meetings."

[BATN: You know immediately that a project is DOOMED when the
Professional Staff of MTC -- think BART extensions, think Bay Bridge,
think ever-expanding sprawl and freeway widenings -- get themselves
involved.]

Two task forces operated on the project: a Parklands Task Force of
elected officials and the community; and a technical advisory
committee, made up of staff from the various agencies.

The other complication was the money trail: federal money came from
several different pots, and went for several different projects.  In
theory, the county held the contracts for all the consultants' work;
but in practice, the National Park Service and other agencies
intervened on their own projects.

Keeping it all straight

"It was the phenomenon of mission creep," said Marin Supervisor
Charles McGlashan, whose Southern Marin district covers much of the
parklands and its gateway areas.  "The issues that were raised kept
getting more complicated and numerous -- therefore the studies got
more lengthy, complex and unwieldy."

McGlashan, who attended community meetings and monitored the project
for several years before he was elected supervisor last November, said
"no one person or even one agency was to blame" for the delay in
getting tangible results while money dribbled away.

"It's the typical problem of government trying to develop a perfect
plan for a complex problem," he said.

Marin Supervisor Steve Kinsey, whose West Marin district is also
included in the project, said the money trail could have been more
efficient, but county taxpayers did get some benefits.

"I think you have here an easy prey for criticism on the spending,"
Kinsey said.  "But the reality of it is, this process clearly defined
the constituencies around the issues of mobility and community
preservation throughout Southern Marin and Southwest Marin."

The county hired DKS Associates of Oakland, a civil engineering firm
specializing in traffic planning, to begin the work.  DKS did $240,200
worth of work on the joint project before being let go in July 2001.

Powell said DKS was competent in transportation engineering, but the
county needed a firm with expertise in meeting both California
Environmental Quality Act and National Environmental Quality Act
standards.

However, DKS continued on with the county on other projects until
2003, later receiving more than $600,000 to design alternatives for
the Coyote Creek Bridge replacement and Tennessee Valley trail
improvements.  The company also received $110,000 for design work from
the $3.22 million cost of the Manzanita park-and-ride lot, which came
out of a different pool of federal funds, according to DKS spokesman
Tom Krakow.

In March 2001, the county signed a "memorandum of understanding" with
the various affected agencies to work together on the Comprehensive
Transportation Management Plan.  With DKS out of the picture in July,
the county hired Robert Peccia & Associates of Helena, Mont., in
September 2001 as chief contractor for the $1.6 million parklands
transportation and environmental preservation project.

The Peccia firm, which had a longtime national reputation in parklands
transportation planning, was the only bidder for the job, Powell said.
He said he had no official word on why there was only one bidder.

Meanwhile, Woolsey in 2001 secured another $902,000 for transportation
planning.

By 2003, Peccia subcontractors had interviewed residents in many of
the affected communities from Sausalito to Stinson Beach on what they
would like to see happen -- and on what they were worried about.  Six
public "scoping" meetings were held.

Everyone had high hopes, Kinsey said.

"I sort of kept my eye on it," he added.

Controversy erupts

Then, in September 2003, the bomb exploded.

Residents received a glossy brochure in the mail from the county
public works department.  In it were numerous proposals, including
such ideas as closing off Muir Woods Road or building a parking lot on
a grassy area that was near the wells for Muir Beach's groundwater
supply.

And, there was the one residents feared the most: the so-called
"transit intercept facility" or TIF: translation -- a parking garage.

"It was apparent to me and my constituents that things were not going
the way as advertised," Kinsey said.  "The glossy brochure didn't
reflect their input, and they couldn't see their comments in the
alternatives."

But Woolsey still was able to get more money: in 2003, she secured
another $909,000 in federal highway money, all of which was assigned
to the National Park Service.

In January 2004, in response to the brochure controversy, Kinsey
helped form a Marin Advisory Committee of elected representatives from
the 15 affected communities.  The committee met regularly last year to
look at draft proposals and review transportation plan alternatives.

At the same time, in 2004, Woolsey secured another $1 million in
federal money for Marin parklands visitor access.

Finally, last Dec. 15, officials from the various agencies presented
their final version of four plan alternatives to a packed house at the
Bay Model in Sausalito.  Unfortunately, the same thing happened again:
residents felt betrayed and unheard, said Steve Thompson of Muir Woods
Park, chairman of the Marin Advisory Committee.

"The night before the meeting, there was no parking garage on Dias
Ridge," said Thompson, who is also chairman of the Marin County
Planning Commission.  "At the meeting the next night, there was a
god-damn parking garage on Dias Ridge.

"It was just a last-minute idea, they said," Thompson added.  "That
really makes people angry."

After the Dec. 15 meeting, Kinsey said he knew the current strategy
wasn't working.  The only way, he said, was to pull out of the joint
effort so the county could move forward on its own.

When McGlashan took office in January, he and Kinsey created their
exit strategy from the joint transportation planning effort, along
with a schedule of short-term solutions the county would tackle
independently.  The new plan was announced March 1.

"One of the prices of trying to do real expansive visionary planning
with multiple agencies is that there's a high risk for
inefficiencies," Kinsey said.  "There's so many different cooks in the
kitchen."

This year, Woolsey secured another $1.27 million for Marin parklands
visitor access, bringing the total federal and local matching funds
obtained by Marin since 1999 to just over $10 million.

Custody of the vision

Residents say they are glad the county is moving ahead on its own, but
are distressed that no one yet is taking stewardship of the overall
vision.

Shannon said she believes the National Park Service must finish its
study of the visitor capacity at Muir Woods first -- before anything
else is done.

"If the most symbolic piece of Marin's landscape is Muir Woods and the
parklands and watershed around it, then there shouldn't be a gap in
vision," Shannon said, after attending a public meeting where
McGlashan apologized to the communities for the joint effort's
previous lack of progress.  "We asked McGlashan about who's in charge
-- he told us there is no oversight and no accountability."

But Savidge said the Park Service is already working on various
visitor capacity studies at Muir Woods, as well as improvements to the
Dias Ridge and Tennessee Valley trails.

"Once we look at the visitor capacity, do a watershed assessment at
Redwood Creek, and analyze the infrastructure, then we'll have
something we can wrap our arms around," Savidge said.  "Then we'll
have the standard indicators for use of the park so that it doesn't
impact what people are going out there to experience."

One of the studies, by a professor at the University of Vermont, found
that visitors at Muir Woods stopped feeling the serenity and peace of
nature if they had to look at 10 to 12 other people in their immediate
vicinity, Savidge said.

The study is still in draft form and its conclusions won't be made
available to the public until this fall, said the Park Service's
Michael Feinstein.

However, Thompson said a preliminary report was presented to the
community showing that visitors were having a less-than-serene
encounter with nature.

"People said they went to Muir Woods to have a type of communion
experience with the trees, and that density is a big value for them in
whether or not they have that experience," he said.  "Do the math:
with 1,700 people an hour walking on a half-mile of trail at Muir
Woods, I think they're already feeling crowded."

Brian O'Neill, superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation
Area, emphasizes that even the short-term solutions -- such as bus
shuttles -- will require a joint effort.

"Practically anything any of us do in Marin needs to be very sensitive
to involvement of all the stakeholders' interests -- and certainly the
communities directly impacted," O'Neill said.

Caltrans, the third major partner in the efforts, is also moving ahead
with a highway message board project, according to Savidge.

But with everyone proceeding on their own, who will take charge of the
vision, wonders Shannon.

"I think the communities don't have a problem with Marin's 'amicable
divorce' from the CTMP," said Shannon, in a reference to McGlashan's
announcement about the county going off on its own with short-term
solutions.  "What I'm worried about is, who has custody of the kid?"

Too many visitors

What bothers Scott Tye of Stinson Beach, another member of the Marin
Advisory Committee, is not so much the money being spent, but the
priorities for spending it.  According to Tye, millions are being paid
for studies while basic maintenance is left undone.

His beach's restrooms, for example, were targeted for restoration two
years ago because of their advanced age and disrepair, but still have
not been rebuilt.  At the restrooms, there is only one working shower
head to wash off sand from the feet of thousands of beach visitors
expected this summer, Tye said.

"How do you justify millions of dollars in new planning and
transportation systems, when your basic infrastructure isn't holding
up?" asked Tye, a former parks ranger and lifeguard and a member of
the Stinson Beach Village Association.

While the debate continues, so do the problems.

According to the Peccia study, traffic at a dozen key intersections in
Marin's parklands is still on a par with where it was pre-Sept. 11.
Visitor counts at Muir Woods have stayed in the range of 700,000 to
900,000 annually since 1999, according to Feinstein, but that doesn't
include the traffic that goes to Stinson and Muir beaches or to Mount
Tamalpais.

Tam Junction, the gateway to the parklands, takes most of the traffic
before it splits off to destinations such as Muir Woods, Stinson
Beach, Muir Beach and Mount Tamalpais.  The Peccia study showed an
average of 33,000 cars a day at peak weekend periods on Shoreline
Highway (Highway 1) north of Manzanita in Tam Junction.

"The biggest issue was down in Tam Valley," said Paul Bignardi, a
National Park Service transportation planner.  "Whose traffic it is,
I don't know."

[BATN couldn't but help notice the appearance of of hellish, utterly
misplaced, eyesore housing development in the last few years along
Highway 1 above Tam Junction.]

Added Bignardi: "A two-lane road is not supposed to be carrying 33,000
cars a day."

The ancient redwoods at Muir Woods are also feeling overloaded, said
Thompson, the citizens advisory group chairman.

"People used to walk on the tree roots," Thompson said.  "Now, to
preserve the trees, they are building platforms everywhere."

Thompson said he is sad about the commercialization of nature.

"I wish you could just take the words to Joni Mitchell's song, 'They
paved paradise, and put up a parking lot,'" he said, "and make that
the headline to your story."

APRIL MEETING

Marin Supervisor Charles McGlashan will address the county's new
parklands transportation planning strategies at a meeting at 8:30
a.m. April 1 of the Tamalpais Community Service District board of
directors.  The meeting, which is open to the public, will be at
Tamalpais Valley Community Center at 203 Marin Avenue (at Tennessee
Valley Road) in Mill Valley.


Rundown of the reports

County, state and federal agencies spent about $2 million on studies
and reports for the Comprehensive Transportation Management Plan.

Here are the names and descriptions of the reports posted on the
project's Web site, <http://www.ctmpmarin.com>:

Background

* CTMP Intercept Interview Report: visitor interviews on bus shuttles,
fares, parking garage, 175 pages, Godbey Research 7 Analysis, Half
Moon Bay, $139,713.

* Telephone Survey of Bay Area Residents Summary: not available.

* Existing Conditions Report: traffic counts, roadway conditions,
visitor studies, 237 pages, Robert Peccia & Associates, Helena, Mont.,
part of $419,934 contract.

* Trails Existing Conditions Report: trail use, conditions, 75 pages,
EDAW, San Francisco, part of $617,447 contract.

* Transit Technology Assessment Report: analysis of different transit
options, 32 pages, Lea & Elliott Inc., San Francisco, $26,858.

* Technology Assessment Update: update on transit options, 19 pages,
Lea & Elliott Inc., part of $26,858 contract.

* Passenger Ropeway Technical Review: analysis of trams, cable cars,
chair lift options, 16 pages, SE Group, engineering firm, location not
available, $24,950.

* Summary of Applicable Transit Solutions: review of alternative
transit solutions, 23 pages, Robert Peccia & Associates, part of
$419,934 contract.

* Integrated Travel Model Development and Application: computer
modeling on parklands use, 37 pages, Cambridge Systematics of Oakland,
part of $204,800 contract.

* Recreation Travel Model Documentation: computer modeling, 31 pages,
Cambridge Systematics, part of $204,800 contract.

* Public Scoping Summary: summary of public meetings, 50 pages, Moore
Iacofano, Goltsman Inc. of Berkeley, $153,950.

* Existing Condition Summary: not available

* Final 2004 Summer Traffic Count Technical Memorandum: not available


Public meetings

* Dec. 15, 2004 Parklands Task Force meeting summary, seven pages.

* Draft Alternative Introduction and Overview, Robert Peccia &
Associates, four pages

* Visitor Experience Overview, two pages

* Draft Alternatives Matrix, Robert Peccia & Associates, eight pages

* Draft Alternatives Matrix, Robert Peccia & Associates, 17 pages

* Elements Considered but Proposed to be Rejected, Robert Peccia &
Associates, three pages.


Contact Keri Brenner via e-mail at kbrenner@...

Statewide speeding bill may raise hackles
Published Monday, March 21, 2005, in the Sacramento Bee

By Tony Bizjak
Bee Staff Writer

Two of the hottest -- and often most controversial -- trends in
traffic control are red light cameras at major intersections
and "traffic-calming" devices in residential areas.

The cameras are used to snap photos of motorists who run red
lights, while traffic-calming programs bring humps, bulb-outs and
roundabouts to residential areas to slow cars so pedestrians can
poke their toes out of their houses with a bit more peace of mind.

Now, along comes a concept for marrying the two. The idea is to put
cameras and radar guns in police vehicles parked in residential
neighborhoods to nab speeders. The idea, recently proposed in the
state Senate, is destined for its own share of controversy.
But it could be popular in plenty of neighborhoods.

Sen. Sheila Kuehl's SB 466 would allow residents of a neighborhood
to request that a police car be parked on their street, equipped
with a camera and a radar gun, to identify and snap photos of
speeders. The car owner then would be mailed a ticket.

Kuehl said there probably would be a police employee in the vehicle,
but it wouldn't necessarily have to be an officer. That way, the
program won't take officers off patrol.

The bill also would require a warning sign be posted on the street
ahead of the "photo radar" device.

Kuehl said if a local department chose to implement the program,
it would be up to residents to petition the city for a unit to be
stationed at a neighborhood spot where officials agree there is a
speeding problem, Kuehl said.

The unit could be stationed on one street one day, and another the
next. The bill is sponsored by the city of Los Angeles.

Sgt. Justin Risley, a Sacramento police spokesman, said the city's
police don't know much about the bill, but "we are always interested
in new technology to address community concerns and complaints."

It would be up to the City Council to decide if it wants that
program here, Risley said.

Kuehl called her bill an important step toward quelling the
statewide problem of speeding in residential areas.

Residents on Kuehl's own street in Santa Monica have knocked on her
door to complain their street is unsafe because of speeders, she
said.

"My street is a cut-through street," Kuehl said. "I don't object
to the traffic. It is the speeding that we are getting at."

But Sacramento attorney Robert Pacuinas has concerns about the idea.
Pacuinas, who challenges red light camera tickets in court, said he
believes this is just another government attempt to pull money out
of people's pockets.

"Law enforcement is going from a system where they are there to
enforce the laws and see that justice is done, to a revenue-
generating machine," he said. "Red light cameras also started as a
good idea, but it is all a revenue game now."

He said the new concept will force courts to deal with determining
if the person driving the car is the registered owner.

But midtown Sacramento resident and activist Red Banes says the
idea sounds great, as long as police keep officers on patrol, and
use other employees in the radar-camera car.

"I'd love it," Banes said. "People are just zooming down 17th Street
now. It's a huge issue."

A quick note to readers who called and e-mailed last week with
questions and comments about some of the strange driving behavior
you see out there: Thanks! We'll get some expert answers and print
them in upcoming columns.


E-mail your transportation concerns to backseat@... or call
The Bee's Tony Bizjak at (916) 321-1059.

Published Monday, March 7, 2005, by the Associated Press

California Grapples With Televised Car Chases

SACRAMENTO (AP) -- On any given day somewhere in California, a
television station helicopter flies low with its camera trained on
a speeding car that pinballs through freeway traffic with police
cars in hot pursuit.

It's a staple of television news and police procedure that is
increasingly ending in death and serious injuries. According to the
California Highway Patrol, the number of chases grew from 5,895 in
2001 to 7,171 in 2003, the last three-year period for which
statistics are available.

Fifty-one people died as a result of these pursuits in 2003; 18 of
the dead were not involved in the pursuit, according to the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Texas had 33 pursuit deaths
in 2003, including nine innocents; North Carolina had 23 deaths,
eight of them uninvolved motorists, and Florida had 21 deaths, just
one of an innocent motorist.

Florida and Mississippi last year enacted laws boosting penalties
for fleeing drivers, similar to what California law enforcement
groups are proposing this year as the Legislature attempts to deal
with the issue.

A bipartisan group of legislators is pushing a proposal that would
include penalties for police who recklessly pursue drivers.

"I want something that is actually going to save lives," said state
Sen. Sam Aanestad, who sponsored a failed bill last year that would
have limited police immunity in accidents from high-speed chases.
"Probably the worst way to catch someone is by chasing them."

Law enforcement will adamantly oppose stripping away officers' legal
immunity, said California State Sheriff's Association Legislative
Director Nick Warner and California Police Chiefs Association
President Bill Brown.

Since 1987, police have had what a state appeals court in 2002
termed a "get-out-of-liability-free" law even if police violate
their own department's pursuit policy.

"We have been challenged by the court of appeals: 'You, Legislature,
go back and fix this,'" said Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero,
who is teaming with Aanestad in a reform effort.

But Brown, the police chief in Lompoc the last 10 years, said ending
police immunity would "pass the liability on to the police and
ultimately to the taxpayer, rather than to the individual who is
really responsible."

It also would encourage suspects to flee, Brown said.

Aanestad is naming his bill after 15-year-old Kristie Priano of
Chico, who was killed in 2002 when her family's minivan was struck
by an unlicensed 15-year-old who was fleeing police after taking her
mother's car without permission. The victim's mother, Candy Priano
argues that there was no need for a pursuit because police knew
where the driver lived.

"I blame the people who flee. (But) people who flee do not care
about anyone's safety, so the burden of protecting innocent
bystanders by necessity falls on the police," Priano said in a
statement.

On the Net:

Kristie Priano: http://www.kristieslaw.org
PursuitWatch: http://pursuitwatch.org

Driving across London and back may soon cost you £15
London congestion charge may hit $1.52 per mile by 2015

Published Wednesday, April 20, 2005, in the London Times

By Ben Webster
Transport Correspondent

Drivers face charges of up to 80 pence ($1.52) a mile under plans
by Transport for London <http://www.tfl.gov.uk> to halve congestion
across the capital.

Cars would be equipped with satellite tracking devices and drivers
would be charged at different rates depending on how close they came
to the centre.

Under the plan, the rate from the outskirts of London to the north
and south circular roads would be 16 pence ($0.30) a mile. From
these roads to the boundary of the existing charging zone, the rate
would be 48 pence ($0.92) a mile. Inside the zone, drivers would be
charged 80 pence ($1.52) a mile.

A return journey from one side of London to the other would cost
about £15 ($28.63).

Some drivers who commute short distances into the existing zone
would pay less than they do under the current congestion charge. But
millions of motorists who never drive into the existing charging
zone would pay several hundred pounds a year to use their cars in
outer London. The scheme, which would come into force in 2015, would
collect a total of £3 billion a year from drivers compared with the
£180 million they currently pay.

Michelle Dix, TfL's director of congestion charging, said that the
scheme would cost between £500 million and £1 billion a year to run.
This would leave a profit of at least £2 billion to be invested in
transport schemes such as rail tunnels under London and tram
systems.

Ms Dix said that the scheme would halve congestion across the whole
of Greater London.

The existing scheme has cut congestion by 30 per cent inside the
zone but had little impact on traffic jams elsewhere.

Ms Dix said that the scheme depended on expensive satellite
technology and would need to be part of a national programme. "But
we believe the technology could be ready to introduce it in 2015,"
she said.

Labour pledges in its current election manifesto to consider
introducing road pricing.

TfL is the first authority to produce detailed plans of how the
system might work and how much it might cost.

Drivers would open an account and pay in credit. The system would
track their movements and deduct charges. Monthly statements would
be issued to drivers giving details of their journeys and the
different rates they had incurred.

The rates would vary according to the time of day and level of
congestion on the roads used. TfL will shortly begin trials in
Southwark of a tag and beacon system that it hopes to introduce
in 2009. It involves roadside beacons detecting tags in cars and
deducting charges.

CAUTION, ROADWORKS AHEAD

* The £5 charge will rise to £8 on July 4

* Ken Livingstone plans to double the size of the zone from 2007

* Charging schemes could be introduced elsewhere in London from 2009

* Edinburgh rejected a £2 congestion charge in a referendum in
February

* 49 per cent of people oppose congestion charging, according to a
survey by the Engineering and Technology Board

Report: Nation's traffic signal operations receive poor grades

Published Wednesday, April 20, 2005, by the Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Backed up at a traffic light? Frustrated when you
hit a red light only a block after driving through a green? Odds
are, those traffic signals may need some work.

A report card <http://www.ite.org/reportcard> issued Wednesday
gives the nation an overall grade of a D-minus for traffic signal
operation. The study said the inefficiency leads to frustration and
unnecessary delays for motorists, wasted fuel and more air pollution
as vehicles constantly stop and go.

"Everyone knows the traffic signals turn red, yellow and green,"
said Shelley Row of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of
Transportation Engineers. "It's not about them changing colors.
It's about them operating efficiently."

The report card, prepared by a coalition of transportation groups,
was based on self-assessment surveys filled out last fall by 378
traffic agencies in 49 states.

It measured the way traffic agencies manage their systems, review
traffic signal timing, maintain an inventory of traffic data and
provide adequate staffing.

Among the findings:

* 68 percent said they either have no documented management plan for
their traffic signal operation or they simply respond to problem
intersections as they happen.

* 71 percent don't have staff to monitor traffic before and after
normal working hours.

* 57 percent said they don't conduct routine reviews of traffic
signals within three years or they only address problems as they
arise.

The report card describes a widespread inadequacy of resources for
the monitoring and coordinating of traffic signals. It concludes
that the nation's system could receive an "A" grade for $965 million
a year.

It also contends that the improvements could lead to less time
battling traffic, and reductions in fuel consumption and harmful
emissions from vehicles.

Many communities have not completed a systemwide retiming of their
traffic lights in a decade, said Phil Tarnoff, director of the
Center for Advanced Transportation Technology at the University of
Maryland.

Others are "fighting fires," Tarnoff said, targeting traffic
buildups around certain busy intersections, a move that only pushes
the tie-ups elsewhere.

"After you do that for a few years, you have a big mess on your
hands," Tarnoff said.

Bellevue, Wash., was the first community to have a centralized
traffic computer for timing signals, and the system has been
upgraded three times as the Seattle-area community has grown.

Mark Poch, the city's traffic engineering manager, said the system
-- which connects to individual traffic cameras -- allows them to
adjust signals for traffic flows, emergencies and special events.

In Springfield, Mo., the city has used federal grants during the
past four years to begin to connect their traffic system throughout
southwest Missouri, including the tourist destination of Branson.

Earl Newman, the city's assistant director of public works for
traffic engineering, said it allows the office to coordinate traffic
signals, visually monitor 28 miles of roads and issue traffic
information to the public.

The focus also has extended to annual inspections and a 24-hour
response to calls about problem signals.

"They're generally there in a thirty minute period as far as
response," Newman said.

In the nation's capital, traffic signals were adjusted as vehicles
streamed into parking lots surrounding RFK Stadium before and after
last Thursday's baseball home opener for the Washington Nationals.

Douglas Noble, chief traffic engineer for the District Department
of Transportation, said it was another example of how a simple
adjustment to traffic lights can help ease congestion.

"A little bit of attention, a relatively small amount of money
can be focused on it and it can lead to really good results,"
Noble said.

The surveys were compiled by a group of traffic organizations,
including the Federal Highway Administration, the American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the
American Public Works Association, the Intelligent Transportation
Society of America and the Institute of Transportation Engineers.

The 378 respondents included state and local traffic agencies,
responsible for operating about one-third of all signals in the
United States.

On the Net:

Institute of Traffic Engineers, http://www.ite.org
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials,
http://www.aashto.org
American Public Works Association, http://www.apwa.net
Intelligent Transportation Society of America, http://www.itsa.org
Federal Highway Administration, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov

Two cameras to circulate various high traffic intersections.

Published Tuesday, March 22, 2005, in the San Mateo Daily Journal

Red light cameras en route

By Jon Mays
Daily Journal staff

Red light runners beware. Starting around April 1, you're on candid
camera.

The San Mateo Police Department will be installing two red light
cameras at two busy "high-risk" intersections in the city. The exact
locations are under wraps, said Police Chief Susan Manheimer.

"We're not divulging the locations. We're going to move them around
to leverage [the cameras]," Manheimer said, adding that the location
with the highest red light violations will end up with the cameras.

"We'll assess the deterrent effect," she said.

Police officials said previously that Hillsdale Boulevard and
Saratoga Drive had 31 red light violations in a two-hour time
frame during an informal study conducted in 2003. Other dangerous
intersections the study listed were Tilton Avenue at El Camino Real,
with 18 violations in two hours. At 17th Avenue and El Camino Real
there were nine violations in an hour. There were 15 violations in
two hours at Norfolk Street and Hillsdale Boulevard and five
violations at 25th Avenue and El Camino Real in a half hour.

Two cameras will be installed at both intersections to capture
images of the car and rear license plate.

There were 380 accidents due to red light violations in the city of
San Mateo between January 2000 and April 2004. In those accidents,
153 injuries were reported, according to San Mateo police.

Red light running causes about 260,000 crashes across the nation
each year, police report.

A red light violation is approximately $271.


Jon Mays can be reached by e-mail at jon@... or by
phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 107.

Published Saturday, April 16, 2005, in the San Jose Mercury News

Speeders in radar on the Dumbarton

Q: I travel the Dumbarton Bridge, and I'm appalled at the way drivers
blatantly ignore the 55 mph speed limit.  If you're not doing 75 or
80, you'd better get the heck out of the way. There are no guardrails
on the western or eastern approaches to the main span, and there is
not much opportunity to avoid accidents at this high rate of speed.
Are there any plans to enforce the 55 mph speed limit? My fellow
commuters may hate me for suggesting this.

Laura Phillips
Livermore

A: Some may cheer you.  The Dumbarton ranks with Highway 101 through
Morgan Hill and I-680 on the Sunol Grade as the roads where I field
the most speeding complaints.  And good news.  Next week the
California Highway Patrol plans a crackdown.


Q: While traveling on Highway 87 near Almaden Expressway, we hit
several potholes so big that our car had to be pushed off the
highway. As we pushed the car onto the exit we found seven other
motorists that had experienced the same nightmare.  ... My rim bent
late one night from hitting one of the huge -- and I mean huge --
potholes on 87.  I didn't want to pull over in the middle of the
night to put on my spare.  So I drove home and messed the whole
thing up.  What can I do to get a new one?  ... What is happening on
87 between Capitol Expressway and I-280?  We find traffic backed up
coming at 2:30 p.m. and when we leave for the night at 11:30 p.m.

Eric Brecheen, Christina Mendoza, Rahul Maharaj and many, many more

A: Caltrans is drilling deep into the road to shore up areas that
have been prone to sinking. And they are preparing to widen the
highway, adding a carpool lane that will stretch from 85 to 101.
The state has been out several times to make pothole repairs,
although last week's rain undid much of that effort. More asphalt
had been laid, and the road should be smoother. Work will last for
a year-plus, so hang tough. Call Caltrans at (510) 286-5806 to file
a claim.


Q: All this nonsense about cutting trees on Highway 17 to improve
sightlines is absurd.  It's just another wacko idea from the same
group that gave us the random number generator they call a speed
monitor past Summit Road. Another feel-good move that does absolutely
nothing but waste a lot of time and money. What works is simple --
bring down the speed. As the CHP would tell you, driving slower means
fewer crashes. Improve the view and you might even fool these idiots
into thinking they can take the curves faster because they can see
ahead. As to the claim that local residents have petitioned to remove
trees to remove dangerous sightlines -- that's the first I and a lot
of real locals have heard of this.  A few loudmouths does not
consensus make.

Lynne Jolitz
Los Gatos

A: The crash rate on northbound Highway 17 past the Summit is several
times higher than the state average. A local safety committee that
includes transportation and law enforcement officials concluded that
far too many crashes occurred when drivers were unable to see around
the curves and spot a problem ahead. They believe that trimming back
trees will ease this problem.


Q: I'm furious about the condition of Highway 9 in Felton. In
January, Cal-Am Water Company ripped up a portion of the northbound
lane. The asphalt used to cover the trench has deep pots and pocks
and is impossible to avoid. They can't leave it like this, can they?

Debbie Dakins
Ben Lomond

A: No. Heavy rains have been the culprit, says Caltrans. Cal Water
has been out fixing potholes and work should end around May 1.


Contact Gary Richards at mrroadshow@... or (408) 920-5335

Published Monday, April 18, 2005, in the Sacramento Bee

Column

Back seat driver: Bulb-outs take a beating from unwitting motorists

By Tony Bizjak
Bee Staff Writer

More about those funny bulb-outs sprouting like spring mushrooms at
central city intersections:

We sleuthed around, and, yep, many of them already sport gouges and
tire marks. Our Sherlockian surmise: Some unsuspecting drivers,
making turns, are going ka-blam.

We know one driver who blew out two tires, and has filed a claim
against the city. He wants the city to buy him new tires.

The city had workers out last week painting the bulbs a glittery
white and attaching reflectors so motorists can see them better at
night.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Have high gas prices caused more people to take Regional Transit
light rail?

That's what's supposed to have happened at Metrolink commuter trains
in Southern California, a newspaper reported last week.

The truth: There is not really much of a gas link, here or in L.A.

Sacramento light rail ridership has gone up about 6 percent in the
first three months of this year over the same months last year.

But that's mainly because RT added several new light rail stations
last summer, out to Sunrise Boulevard.

At least that's what RT officials think.

We get a better picture from down south. Metrolink's latest rider
survey shows that some new riders have come aboard because of gas
prices, but far more are just sick of freeway congestion and time
lost sitting in a car, spokeswoman Denise Tyrrell said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Another way to reduce your gas bill -- cycling.

Owen Howlett, who moved here from London, laments that Sacramento is
home to "some of the sketchiest cycling on the planet."

That means ... well, we don't know what that means, except that
sometimes cyclists get hurt, and it's often avoidable.

Howlett, a certified cycling instructor from the League of American
Bicyclists, and co-instructor Erin Reschke are launching a series of
courses on proper bicycling, one series for cyclists 16 and up,
another for kids.

The details are on their Web site: http://www.safercyclingsac.org

Howlett says the most important safety steps a cyclist can take are
to be predictable and to communicate with car drivers.

"Bikes should be driven like vehicles, and California law dictates
that cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as drivers,"
Howlett says.

That includes "making yourself more visible, choosing the correct
position in the lane, and making your intentions clear."

The biggest mistake the urban cyclist makes: not looking behind and
establishing eye contact with drivers.

As for children and young teens, Howlett says his course helps
prepare them to be safe car drivers as well.

The course is run in four two-hour segments over two weeks. Cost for
adults is $50. For kids, $30.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The federal government announced an intriguing compromise last week
with the city of Folsom that could lead to partial reopening of
Folsom Dam Road.

The feds closed the road two years ago so terrorists couldn't use it
to blow up the dam. Officials are talking about charging vehicles $2
or $3 to cross. If they do that, they basically are creating the
Sacramento region's first toll road, possibly the first in the
Central Valley.

Toll roads work if motorists feel the price is worth the time and
aggravation saved. But what if the toll booths cause their own back-
up during rush hour?

That could be a bigger bump in the road than bulb-outs.


E-mail your transportation concerns to backseat@... or call
The Bee's Tony Bizjak at (916) 321-1059.

[Note: CA Highway 1 is also known as 19th ave in San Francisco]

Published Saturday, March 19, 2005, in the San Francisco Chronicle

19th Avenue signs alert drivers to speed

By Suzanne Herel

Drivers on 19th Avenue -- a six-lane thoroughfare infamous for
accidents involving pedestrians and cars -- are now able to clock
their speed and see whether they're exceeding the 35 mph limit.

AAA of Northern California paid more than $22,000 to install two
permanent radar signs in the hopes that if people are aware they're
driving too fast, they'll slow down -- and avoid accidents.

"A lot of people tend to drive more recklessly than they realize,"
said Sean Comey, spokesman for AAA. He said the agency would like
to see the signs become more widespread in the city.

For now, motorists driving northbound on 19th Avenue will see a new
sign between Sloat Boulevard and Wawona Street. Southbound travelers
will see a sign between Lincoln Way and Irving Street.

>From 1999 to 2003, there were seven fatal crashes and 405 injury
collisions on 19th Avenue, Comey said.

Published Friday, March 18, 2005, in the UC Berkeley Daily Cal

Hybrid Owners Could Park for Free
City Mulls Rewarding Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Purchased in Berkeley

By Tonia Bui
Contributing Writer

Free parking for hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles purchased in
Berkeley might become a reality if a study approved last week by
the City Council is legally adopted by city staff.

The study, to be conducted by the Police Department within the next
six months, will determine the costs and feasibility of offering
free parking to owners of hybrid and fuel-efficient vehicles.

The proposal to conduct the study was designed to encourage
residents to purchase energy-efficient cars in the city, said
Councilmembers Linda Maio and Gordon Wozniak, who penned the
proposal.

Maio and Wozniak said that by offering free parking privileges to
owners of fuel-efficient vehicles, Berkeley could reduce carbon
dioxide emissions from fuel-powered cars by 15 percent and create
incentive for residents to purchase fuel-efficient vehicles in
Berkeley.

Ten years ago, the city passed a resolution saying it plans to
reduce its 1990 emissions level by 15 percent.

There are currently about 70,000 privately owned vehicles in
Berkeley. If 30 percent of the present fleet were replaced by fuel-
efficient vehicles, the city could reduce carbon dioxide emissions
from cars by 36,000 tons, according to the proposal.

Maio said those who purchase a hybrid vehicle would also help
Berkeley car dealers sell more hybrid vehicles, thereby contributing
to the city's tax revenues.

"We are making a trade-off with how much revenue (the city) is
making versus how much emission we would cut," Maio said.

Maio and Wozniak said the exact amount for how much the city would
lose from providing the free metered parking has not yet been
determined.

Decals or hanging tags similar to handicapped symbols could be used
by parking enforcement officers to determine whether a car parked at
a metered space is a hybrid car purchased in Berkeley, they said.

The proposal will be sent to the city's Energy Commission after the
Police Department reports its findings, said Peter Hillier,
assistant city manager in transportation.

The commission will further examine the effectiveness of reducing
greenhouse emissions, said Energy Officer Neal DeSnoo.

Hillier said free parking for hybrid vehicles could be flawed
because the six-month wait after ordering a hybrid car might
discourage people from buying them.

"There may be logistical problems that might make it problematic on
a short-term perspective," he said. "On a longer-term perspective,
we need to look at other ways instead of giving free parking to
promote hybrid sales."

DeSnoo added that reaching the 15 percent target is challenging
and that the city should also look at other alternatives to reduce
carbon dioxide gas emissions by encouraging people to use public
transportation like AC Transit and ride bikes.

But local car dealers said free metered parking for fuel-efficient
vehicles would help increase sales of their hybrid model cars and
protect the environment.

"Anything that reduces our dependency on fossil fuels, causes us to
not exploit oil from Alaska and the Middle East, is a good thing,"
said David Burrill, a hybrid salesperson at Toyota of Berkeley. "If
you buy a hybrid car, you would have 90 percent fewer emissions than
the average car."


Contact Tonia Bui at tbui@...


[BATN: See also:

Berkeley may let Berkeley-bought hybrids park free (16 Mar 05)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/23320

SF supes propose stupid hybrids-park-free law (8 Dec 04)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/21704

San Jose-bought hybrids can park free in San Jose (13 Aug 04)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/19889

Berkeley may replace 5 city-owned cars with hybrids (16 Jul 04)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/19383

San Jose offers SJ-bought hybrids free parking (13 Jul 04)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/19305

Los Angeles rolls out campaign for free hybrid parking (10 Jul 04)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/19232

Los Angeles  mayor Hahn pushes free parking for hybrids (9 Jul 04)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/19231

SJ mayor Gonzales seeks free parking for hybrids (21 Apr 03)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/11633

Zero-emission cars to park free in SJ pilot program (19 Apr 01)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BATN/message/1227 ]

Published Tuesday, March 15, 2005, in the Contra Costa Times

Appeal for traffic help backfires

By Sarah Krupp
Contra Costa Times

ANTIOCH -- Despite residents' calls for speed bumps and other
measures to deter lead-footed drivers, the only thing likely to
get bumped up for now is the speed limit.

Responding to residents' complaints that motorists jet through
their neighborhoods, the city reviewed speed limits on some streets
and determined that they may be too low.

"It defies logic," said Bluerock Drive resident Sue Carter. She
compared the city's strategy to dealing with a rash of bank
robberies by leaving the banks' doors open.

The city is following state laws for establishing speed limits based
primarily on traffic flow, said Joseph Brandt, Antioch's community
development director. The idea is that most motorists drive at
speeds that are reasonable and safe.

"You can post it as whatever you want, but it's what you can
enforce," said Councilman Brian Kalinowski of speed limits.

On a handful of southeast Antioch streets, including Putnam Street,
Eagleridge Drive and Bluerock Drive, the speed limits will likely
increase from 25 to 30 mph, he said.

At the crux of the debate is whether the roads are residential. In
residential areas, state codes permit a speed limit of 25 mph or
less.

With dozens of driveways spilling onto Bluerock and kids riding
bicycles and playing ball, said Gary Ogg, "How could you possibly
say that it's something other than residential?"

Bluerock and the other streets where speed limits may change were
built to connect narrower residential streets to the city's main
arterials, Brandt said. These "collector" streets are four feet
wider than residential roads and meant for heavier traffic loads.

Ogg and others have asked the city to calm traffic on these streets
with raised speed bumps, stop signs or textured pavement.

Bluerock "is functioning as it was designed, as a collector," Brandt
said. "But if I plug that up, the majority of the traffic is going
to cut through other routes."

In August, police gave out 82 citations in two days to drivers going
35 mph or faster on one collector street. The speed limit is 25, but
it is common for police to give motorists 10 mph latitude. Traffic
courts tend to reject speeding tickets for which the driver was
going less than 10 mph over the speed limit, officials said.

If the speed limit was raised to 30 mph per state guidelines, less
than 1 percent of the 82 motorists would have been cited.

Residents contend that a higher speed limit will prompt motorists
to drive closer to 40 mph, posing even greater threats to children.

Brandt acknowledges that the city should never have allowed the
houses to front on busy streets. From now on, he said, the city
will force developers to build houses so that their backs
abut "collector" streets.

SETTING SPEEDS

Speed limits are established according to the 85th percentile speed
of traffic, according to Caltrans guidelines.

For example, of 100 cars traveling through an area, the speed is set
at the 15th fastest rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.

Streets that are residential, near schools or senior centers are
exceptions and can be set at 25 miles per hour or lower.


Reach Sarah Krupp at 925-779-7166 or skrupp@...

Published Saturday, March 12, 2005, in the San Jose Mercury News

EPA's mileage numbers called 'bogus' by AAA
Cars not tested in real traffic

By Matt Nauman
Mercury News

Steve Davies loves his hybrids, but neither his Toyota Prius sedan
nor his Ford Escape sport-utility vehicle gets the mileage per
gallon promised by those EPA stickers on every new car's window.

"We can't come even close," said the Pacific Grove retiree.

Nor can anyone else. AAA, the nation's leading advocacy group for
motorists, says the government numbers are inaccurate to the point
of being "bogus."

But the federal ratings could soon get closer to reality. A new
bill in Congress, supported by AAA and environmental groups, would
order the EPA to come up with more accurate mileage ratings. And
the agency is studying testing changes on its own.

The EPA admits that it overstates actual gas mileage, in part
because the agency doesn't actually drive any cars in the real
world to come up with its numbers.

Instead, it runs a car on a type of treadmill and measures the
carbon in its exhaust to calculate mileage. The test assumes various
things, such as a top speed of 60 mph on the highway and no air
conditioning.

Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., a co-sponsor of the Fuel Efficiency
Truth in Advertising Act introduced March 3, said the EPA testing
procedure is "absurd" and the numbers it produces are "misleading."

'Use the traffic jams'

"Use the speeds we really drive at, use the traffic jams we wait in,
use the length of trips that we take, use the kind of fuel we use,"
she said.

Critics say the EPA's mileage numbers are inflated by 10 percent to
30 percent.

AAA, which just published the results of its own real-world mileage
tests, found great discrepancies between its figures and the EPA's.

A 2004 BMW Z4 roadster that is supposed to get 21 mpg in the city
and 29 mpg on the highway got 14.5 mpg overall from AAA. A Lexus LX
470 SUV, rated at 13/17 by the EPA, got 10.8 mpg. A Chrysler PT
Cruiser got 17.5 mpg, not the 21/29 claimed by the EPA.

AAA testers drove the cars in stop-and-go traffic. They loaded
trunks with groceries. They turned on the air conditioning. They
drove up steep hills. And they drove in heavy city traffic and at
normal highway speeds. "It's what most people do," said Jenny Mack,
a spokeswoman for AAA of Northern California.

Consumer Reports has found similar problems with the EPA measures.
This week, the magazine endorsed Honda's hybrid Accord sedan as its
top pick among family cars. Its auto staff got 27 mpg during its
extensive tests. That's only 2 more mpg than the gasoline-only
Accord V-6 recorded in the magazine's tests. The Accord hybrid
should be getting 30 mpg in the city and 37 mpg on the highway,
according to the EPA.

Davies said he gets about 25 mpg in city driving in his front-wheel-
drive Escape hybrid SUV. The EPA says he should be getting 36 mpg.
It's even worse with his Prius. While the EPA says he should get
60 mpg in city driving, Davis says he gets about 37 mpg.

'Pocketbook issue'

"This is a pocketbook issue," said Johnson, who drives a Buick.
With gas at $2 a gallon or higher, people are spending $300 to
$1,000 a year more on gas than they would have anticipated.

Controversy over the EPA's numbers isn't new. In the 1980s, EPA
changed procedures in an acknowledgment that real-world driving
fails to match the agency's own ratings. Ever since, it has adjusted
down its lab-tested ratings -- by 10 percent for city driving and
by 22 percent for highway driving -- before putting them on vehicle
window stickers.

That's not enough, critics insist.

In 2002, the Bluewater Network, a San Francisco environmental group,
petitioned the EPA to change how it calculates and reports fuel-
economy ratings. As a result, the agency solicited public opinion
in 2004 and it is now analyzing those comments.

"In tens of thousands of comments, the public seemed to favor a
change," said John Millett, a spokesman for the EPA in Washington.

'Change is warranted'

"Perhaps more telling, as we read the data right now, they indicate
a change is warranted," he said. "Speed limits are higher,
congestion has increased and more vehicles are equipped with power-
hungry accessories, like air conditioning."

The EPA is expected to issue a new fuel-economy proposal before the
end of 2005, and to finalize changes by the end of 2006, Millett
said.

Automakers oppose any changes. The Alliance of Automobile
Manufacturers, which represents the domestic automakers as well as
Toyota, Volkswagen and four other foreign car makers, maintain that
the current EPA fuel-economy labels do what they're supposed to do:
provide car buyers with mileage numbers they can compare across
various vehicles.

The automakers told the agency to continue "joint efforts with the
industry to promote consumer education and fuel economy optimization
through good driving habits and better vehicle maintenance."

Johnson, the Connecticut congresswoman, doesn't think the EPA is
moving quickly enough. "When you're spending taxpayer dollars to
develop information, it should be honest information," she said.


Contact Matt Nauman at mnauman@... or (408) 920-5701.

Published Monday, March 28, 2005, in the San Jose Mercury News

Traffic cops play key safety role at work sites

Roadshow
By Gary Richards

Q: Why are we paying Highway Patrol officers to sit in their cars on
Montague Expressway when road crews are working? During these budget
cuts, there has to be a better way than having them sit in their
cars doing nothing. ... I often see police or the Highway Patrol at
the construction work on San Tomas Expressway -- doing nothing but
sitting in their car. ... I see a CHP at the 237-880 interchange
where they are finishing new ramps. What a waste of taxpayer
dollars. ... We need traffic cops on the road ticketing speeders,
not sitting at a work site?

Joseph Weinstein, M. Perez and many more

A: This is a common gripe, but let's turn to Brian-The-Caltrans-
Pothole-Man for his perspective: "Some drivers don't pay attention
to traffic cones, signs or our trucks when we close a lane or are
working on a road. They'll get angry at being delayed and think
nothing of the safety of crews filling potholes, fixing guardrails
or keeping the highway clear for them. But when a CHP car is sitting
in the area, they suddenly behave a lot better. I don't care if the
cops are watching a DVD. Just having them around makes our job a lot
safer. They have the power to write a ticket. We don't. That makes a
big difference."

Brian has been hit three times by drivers while working along a
highway and survived a scary crash on Highway 17 when a driver --
angered by being delayed while Caltrans removed a boulder from the
road -- sped through a coned-off site, crashing into his truck.
Injuries and deaths at construction sites jumped 53 percent from
1998 to 2002. In California, there are about 6,000 collisions a year
in work zones. If police -- who are usually paid by construction
firms and are off-duty -- get drivers to behave, well, that's the
idea.


Q: You and photographer Len Vaughn-Lahman really put your lives on
the line for the story on filling potholes (Roadshow, March 14).
Maybe we drivers will be more careful and more sympathetic when
driving near crews in the future because of what you showed us. I'm
grateful that the crash barrier truck was with you, and I'm grateful
for Brian Cadigan, Nick Aguilar and Jose Rico who patch up our roads.

But don't take on any more hazardous duty for a while. We need you
to keep us informed! ... I just read your pothole story. Glad you
made it out alive. Working on potholes can be dangerous. Smooth,
baby, smooth. ... Thanks for the bonus column on the pothole crew.
You bring to a higher level the awareness we need to have to avoid
killing the road crews. ... Gary, how can we report potholes?

Bonne Home, Russell Wagenman, Sharon Tyler and many, many more

A: On state highways and freeways, click on
http://www.dot.ca.gov/maintform.html to report potholes and
maintenance issues. On Santa Clara County expressways, go to
http://www.countyroads.org and submit a "Roadway Service Request."
In San Jose: Call (408) 277-4373.


Q: If I read your article on potholes correctly, you went out with
a team of four, two trucks and assistance from two Highway Patrol
officers and filled a couple of potholes and called it a day? Add
the cost of time lost for busy people who had to be stuck in traffic
and round it up to a grand a pothole. Betcha I could do it cheaper.
And, I'd do it at night. It's not that we don't want potholes fixed;
we just resent the waste.

Paul Reddick
Palo Alto

A: Waste? We covered three miles in two-plus hours, which may not
seem like a lot but we were hustling like Steve Nash on an NBA fast
break. Budget cuts have slammed Caltrans hard, with maintenance
crews of 11 down to four or five. A lot of work is at night, but
costs rise as it involves more workers, equipment and lane closings.


Q: I was driving on 101 near University Avenue when I hit a really
bad pothole, damaging my right front tire and bending the tire
wheel. The tow truck driver told me that it was the second call
they had that week with the same pothole and suggested I could get
reimbursed. Is he right?

Letty Block
San Jose

A: Perhaps. Call Caltrans at (510) 286-5806 to file a claim.

Published Tuesday, March 29, 2005, in the Santa Cruz Sentinel

Fishhook safety upgrades on hold

By Genevieve Bookwalter
Sentinel Staff Writer

Eighteen years after it was proposed, a $52 million project designed
to make the county's most dangerous interchange safer does not
contain any of the initial improvements slated for the notorious
spot.

The Fishhook, where cars driving north on Highway 1 swing around to
merge with cars cruising south on Highway 17, is the most dangerous
interchange in the county, said Pat Dellin, interim executive
director of the county Regional Transportation Commission.

Black streaks along the sharp curve's barrier show where cars going
too fast have scraped the side. Those drivers who observe the 20 mph
speed limit merge with vehicles cruising the recommended 55 mph or
faster. The accident rate is three times that of similar
interchanges in the state, according to the commission.

But in the finished Route 1/17 Merge Lane Project proposal, now
awaiting state funds to be built, all changes to the Fishhook have
been nixed.

"They really had to start from scratch if they were going to do it
right," Dellin said, "which meant that you ended up with many levels
of overpasses and it would have looked a lot more like the major
freeway interchanges in San Jose or L.A."

"It wasn't even a close call, it was a pretty dramatic negative
response," Dellin said.

So instead of fixing the Fishhook -- the reason the transportation
commission started developing the project in 1987 -- commissioners
in 1998 agreed to add merge lanes at northbound Highway 1 at the
Morrissey onramp, northbound Highway 1 at northbound Highway 17,
southbound Highway 1 at the Highway 17 connector, and southbound
Highway 1 at the La Fonda overcrossing.

While not as dramatic, the changes should still ease congestion at
some of the county's biggest bottlenecks, commission officials
believe.

The project then was estimated at $33.4 million, as opposed to $63
million needed for a new, three-level "flyover" at the Fishhook,
according to commission records.

Critics charged that the flyover -- with three levels of ramps and
lots of concrete -- would resemble big-city interchanges. The
design, they contended, was inappropriate for Santa Cruz County.

But as the project has been delayed, most recently by lawmakers
siphoning funds to balance the state budget, the price tag has
climbed. Now it's estimated at $52 million, Dellin said.

All these factors -- the wait, the cost, the lack of safety
changes at the Fishhook -- have some wondering what's going on.

If the merge-lane project proceeds, the Fishhook "will become the
next bottleneck if we widen the highway," said Bill Comfort of
Aptos. A former commission alternate for supervisors Walt Symons and
Tony Campos, Comfort now regularly attends meetings as a member of
the public. He has suggested incorporating the interchange work into
a potential Highway 1 widening project.

Comfort said he understands why the flyover's height and price
concerned highway neighbors and county residents.

Still, as a retired engineer, "I believe that if this were all put
together in one project, it would probably be a benefit to the
community," Comfort said.

Commissioner and county Supervisor Jan Beautz questioned the
Fishhook-bottleneck theory.

"Frankly, I think a lot of the congestion is farther down," like on
41st or Park avenues, Beautz said.

But the 12-year commission veteran agreed the interchange project
was intended to improve the Fishhook, and now those improvements
are not happening.

"Things just take a long time, and sometimes they're not exactly
what you envision they would be," Beautz said. "If this is the best
fix we can get, we'll wait and see what happens further down the
line with the rest of it."

Santa Cruz California Highway Patrol officer David DaSilva said that
over the years, drivers have adapted to the Fishhook's tight curl --
even the traffic merging at different speeds.

"It really doesn't seem to be as big of a problem as it used to be,"
DaSilva said. "It's awkward, but it seems like most people do OK
with it."

Pamela Duran, 51, of Ben Lomond, whose 68-year old mother, Shirley
King of Santa Cruz, died in a 2001 Fishhook traffic accident, said
she doesn't blame the tricky spot for the accident.

"The way I look at it is, those signs tell you to slow down and they
tell you the speed to slow down to," she said, adding that her
mother had a medical condition that contributed to the accident.
"If they didn't have those signs, or if the signs were way too high,
then I would be angry. But as long as you obey the traffic signals
and they tell you to slow down to 20 (mph), you're going to be
safe."


Contact Genevieve Bookwalter at gbookwalter@...

Published Wednesday, April 6, 2005, in the Oakland Tribune

FBI probes bridge welds
Workers' allegations raise questions about new bridge safety

By Sean Holstege and Jill Tucker
Staff Writers

The new Bay Bridge is riddled with defective welds, 15 welders told
the Oakland Tribune in a nine-month investigation -- allegations
that could lead to criminal fraud charges.

The welders' claims have prompted an FBI investigation. In the worst
case, the federal probe could lead to tearing apart the bridge to
see if it is structurally sound or needs to be rebuilt.

The FBI began investigating allegations in February that welders
were "encouraged or instructed to save time by producing substandard
welds," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Mershon of the
bureau's San Francisco division.

The bureau is investigating whether contractor KFM Joint Venture
provided "fraudulent services in exchange for federal contract
dollars," Mershon said this week.

The new span is the largest public works project in California
history. The state is spending $6.2 billion to replace the
vulnerable 68-year-old bridge between Oakland and Yerba Buena
Island with one that would likely stay open after the most
violent earthquakes. Every day, 282,000 cars cross the bridge.

The allegations involve the first part of the new bridge, a $1.5
billion skyway held up by 160 steel legs. Each leg is riddled with
weak welds, because some supervisors ordered welders to hide
defects, workers told the Oakland Tribune.

Several welders in interviews estimated one-third of the 5,280 welds
in these legs, or piles, may be substandard. Almost all are now
encased in concrete even as contractor KFM, according to several
Capitol sources, is aggressively lobbying Sacramento to finish the
bridge -- a contract worth $5 billion more. Welders still on the job
said in interviews KFM has promised them part of that work.

In interviews or in testimony, welders describe a skyway worksite
where KFM paid cash bonuses to hurry the job, leading to shoddy work
and injury cover-ups.

The KFM construction team must pay Caltrans $80,000 for every day
the work is late beyond 1,000 days. The skyway is now about
three-quarters done and on schedule. Until then, every day costs
contractors at least $280,000 in overhead, whether work gets done
or not. If KFM finishes early, the joint venture keeps the money.

Together, Caltrans and Cal-OSHA oversee work quality and worker
safety on the job. Both said welders' allegations have no merit
and that the new skyway and workplace conditions there are safe.

"We've got good welds, good procedures and everything is in place
to have a quality product. If a defect got in, we can't find it,"
said Caltrans project manager Pete Siegenthaler.

Caltrans project engineer Doug Coe said a 5 percent defect rate
is standard. On a high-quality job, firms make mistakes -- all
corrected -- about 2 percent to 3 percent of the time. On the
Bay Bridge piles, KFM's error rate is 1 percent, Coe said.

"We think we have some of the best welding we've seen in the
industry," he added, noting that for a defect to get past a system
of checks and independent double-checks, inspectors for the
contractor would have to commit fraud and Caltrans inspectors
would have to miss obvious physical evidence.

"We think that's not a reasonable thing to happen," Coe said.

Lead contractor Kiewit Pacific Co., in a prepared statement, said
the work was "in full compliance with all contract specifications."

But 15 welders from different shifts, who worked at the start,
middle and end of the job, tell a different story.

Some company workers ordered faulty welds covered up -- ones with
cracks, bubbles or cavities -- while they badgered inspectors into
turning a blind eye, welders said in interviews with the FBI and
the Tribune.

KFM paid employees monthly cash bonuses for early completion, but
only when there were no reports of injury or weld repairs, according
to welders, the FBI and a worksite document. Supervisors and welders
were given $200 to $600 in $100 bills, tucked in envelopes.

Kiewit laid off or fired welders, including an entire night crew,
who complained about workplace safety or quality, according to
testimony from several welders in an arbitration hearing in a layoff
dispute.

The arbitration panel ruled late last month that KFM legally let
the night crew go to improve efficiency.

The federal probe, which includes inspectors general at the
Transportation and Labor departments, began with a call to the
bureau's toll-free tip line in early February, Mershon said.

The Tribune contacted the FBI in March to confirm the existence of a
federal probe. Mershon agreed to discuss limited details of the FBI
probe if agents had time to gather sensitive evidence, "that would
otherwise not have been available."

Mershon declined to disclose the scope of the probe. "I will tell
you it's a very important priority with us."

Stringent specifications

Kiewit spokesman Tom Janssen, in a brief prepared statement on
behalf of the firm and its two partners, FCI Constructors Inc.,
and Manson Construction Co., rejected all the allegations.

"KFM's welding on the Bay Bridge is performed in compliance with
stringent Caltrans specifications, as well as the American Welding
Society codes," Janssen stated. "Critical welds are performed by
certified, experienced union welders that are approved by Caltrans.
The professional welds are extensively inspected ... by Caltrans,
KFM's quality department and an outside third party inspector."

The quality of Bay Bridge welds is checked by Inspection Services
Inc., or ISI, based in San Francisco. KFM hired the firm to inspect
its work, as allowed by state law. Caltrans had its own inspectors
and hired quality control inspectors as well from MACTEC Inc. ISI
Vice President Edward King did not return three calls seeking
comment.

As of Tuesday, KFM had asked for 329 critical weld repairs on the
piles -- four a week -- Caltrans logs show.

Caltrans keeps about 330,000 pages of records documenting the
welding operation, enough to fill three industrial storage boxes.
Reviewing a sampling of several hundred of those pages shows
inspectors routinely rejected defects. Records indicated repairs
were ordered, and the work was re-inspected visually, by magnetic
powder or ultrasound. Repairs were then approved and certified by
KFM, Caltrans, their inspectors and lab technicians, the records
show.

"If I, in quality assurance, discover the process is not being
followed, I can go and find out exactly where," said MACTEC vice
president James Merrill. He said welders were not trained to judge
the quality of welds.

Pressured to conceal

But Bay Bridge welders said they were pressured by some supervisors
to conceal bad welds in a way that could fool the inspectors' tests.
They said they covered cracks and bubbles -- which are common in
production welding -- with enough metal to pass inspection.

"One time I know Caltrans saw something that needed repairs," said
veteran pile driver Aaron Cushman, who is no longer on the job. "I
just fixed the top of it and Caltrans signed off."

"Even on critical weld repairs, we covered them over with new weld,"
foreman Angel Leon told the Tribune, recalling one occasion when a
KFM welding supervisor told him to disappear while he was waiting
for an inspector. "I was told: 'Angel, don't you have something to
do? We don't want to get you involved if people ask questions
later.' "

Leon said he complied, and requests to move ahead without fixing
mistakes were common. He added some supervisors "told us we didn't
have to wait for ISI inspectors."

He said he's never seen so many defects on a project in his 20-year
career. Laid off in January as the welding operation tapered off,
Leon recalled the view of the 68-year-old bridge from his breezy
work site under the enormous red construction cranes.

"When I'd look from the new bridge to old," the 45-year-old Leon
said, "it gave me the feeling that the old bridge is safer than the
one we're building."

The welders approached the Tribune after the newspaper's June report
indicating the construction company knowingly exposed its workers to
high levels of poisonous manganese fumes for a year.

Some welders spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they feared
retaliation "in the hole" where some still work. Others don't want
to jeopardize pending workers' compensation or discrimination
claims. Still others feared being blackballed from future work,
including one man who said union officials told him he'd be
committing "career suicide" bad-mouthing Kiewit publicly.

A large group of welders -- including those named in this story --
as well as other bridge workers have hired a lawyer for worker's
compensation cases and in preparation of a lawsuit against KFM
over the manganese exposure.

Welding instructors and bridge engineers say that while workers
on big construction jobs notoriously grumble, the number and
consistency of complaints have to be taken seriously.

In March 2004 workers sent a certified letter to Kiewit's corporate
headquarters in Omaha, Neb., and warned, "We are increasingly under
pressure to perform ... substandard quality work."

Welders said some supervisors continued to tell them to adjust the
automated welding machines used on the Bay Bridge to the wrong
temperature and speed settings. They call this "welding out of
parameters."

This made the work move faster.

"We were instructed to run within parameters only when there was a
welding inspector there," said one foreman. "We were instructed to
throw (bad) welds in there, and it makes it brittle. That's the
reason for the parameters."

Engineers familiar with the Bay Bridge design say the area where
the steel piles are fused to the footing are the most important
for the safety of the entire structure.

The significance of defects such as bubbles, or porosity, varies
depending on the type and location of a weld.

"Any kind of anomaly or defect in a tension weld will have more
effect on a structure because of the seismic conditions. On tension
welds, the forces want to pull the weld apart," said MACTEC's
Merrill.

On other welds, "you can have quite a bit of porosity and still be
acceptable. There are standards by which they are cleared," said
Merrill, explaining many structures around the country perform
perfectly even though they were built before science learned how
to limit porosity.

He and Caltrans' materials testing chief, Phil Stolarski, say
welders are not trained to know the different kinds.

But for the FBI, contractors' drive for speed raises safety
questions.

"The welds would have to be performed within certain standards, and
it takes a certain amount of time to do that. Logically, if there's
a specification that hasn't been met, that would be a concern,"
said the bureau's Mershon.

He said the extent of any substandard work would need to be
determined by a "professional engineering assessment."

Workers said they were told to speed up as deadline pressures kicked
in, and did the work in half or one-third the time. They said this
was done by reducing the number of "passes," or times the automated
welding machine zig-zagged back and forth to form a weld.

Welding too fast or at the wrong temperatures leaves behind bubbles
or cracks in the steel piles that hold up the bridge. Some cracks
were so big -- nearly 20 inches long -- welders took to calling
them "smiley faces."

Caltrans inspection records call them "smileys."

According to contract specifications, defects need to be dug out
with an arc-welding torch and re-welded. Key Caltrans records
suggest repairs on were done on all defective welds.

But Bay Bridge welders interviewed said in many cases they instead
poured more metal over the defects to save time, and the work passed
the inspection system.

"These guys were putting in trash and covering it up," said one
welder. "They traded off quality for production." Several welders
said in interviews such mistakes were cleared because they watched
some Kiewit supervisors bully state and privately contracted
inspectors.

Caltrans disputed the allegation in a prepared statement reviewed
by its lawyers. "We have had an excellent working relationship with
the contractor's staff," Caltrans said. "Overwhelmingly, they have
worked in a professional manner and they have not attempted to
persuade us to accept welds that do not meet industry standards."

Without breaking apart finished concrete foundations, there is
currently no easy way to verify or dismiss the welders' claims.

Bay Bridge workers took photos of what they call suspect welds. At
the Tribune's request, two professional welders whose livelihoods do
not depend on the bridge job examined the photos and saw evidence of
such defects as porosity, the process that creates a Swiss-cheese
effect in an area of bubbles.

Depending on the nature and location of faulty welds, the bridge
may be strong enough to survive a major quake, said one engineer
familiar with the Bay Bridge project. But given the number of welder
allegations and the consistency of their stories, the safety of the
bridge "could potentially be a problem."

If the FBI finds hard evidence of faulty welds, the defects may be
so serious the work might have to be halted and the bridge started
over. The mistakes should be fixed or, at a minimum, California
taxpayers should be compensated for buying one bridge and getting
something less, the bridge engineer said.

It wouldn't be the first time California got shortchanged because
of shoddy welding.

Caltrans discovered faulty welds in 1995 on reinforcing bar during
construction of concrete columns on the Interstate 8/805 interchange
in San Diego. Subsequently, Caltrans found welding discrepancies on
about 300 bridges statewide, including an elevated freeway through
San Francisco.

The bad welds were detected by comparing X-ray images and a large
number were faulty or missing, Caltrans later reported. Caltrans
originally was duped because at that time welding contractors could
hire their own inspectors. A San Leandro-based X-ray technician was
convicted on fraud charges and jailed for his role in the deception.

Afterward, Caltrans concluded most of the structures were still
safe, based on statistical models. Hundreds of thousands of people
drive over them every day.

Back at the skyway site, the pile welding operation is winding down.
Welders on the job say they've been told to speed up again. And
they've seen people learning their craft on the steel that holds up
the bridge. "We used to do 40 to 50 hours of practice on the mock-up
or in training. Now I notice new people hired straight off the
street. In half a day, they're working on the bridge," said one
current welder. "They'll bring in a new guy with little or no
training. Their practice is this multi-billion-dollar bridge. It's
scary."

Caltrans dismissed this allegation.

"All of the welders working on the Bay Bridge project meet
qualification requirements," the agency's statement said.

For journeymen welders, it's another reason why the thrill of a
lifetime -- working on a historical project -- has soured.

Anooshiravan Jadali testified in arbitration hearings that projects
like the original Depression-era Bay Bridge lured him from native
Iran.

"I was ... proud of those people. That's why I came to do the Bay
Bridge, because it was an honor for me. And they (KFM) didn't take
it serious. They take it is a joke," he testified.

"A while ago we were told -- I don't know if it's true -- they
would put a plate up with all the names of the people who built
this bridge. We got excited about that," said Angel Leon, the
ex-foreman.

"This was supposed to be something good for working people in the
Bay Area. It became a nightmare," he said. He stared into the clouds
brewing in his coffee at a downtown Oakland cafe, and sighed. "Now
we say 'I don't want my name on it.' "


Contact Sean Holstege at sholstege@... and
Jill Tucker at jtucker@...