Free Republic

When it was built in 1936, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was a Depression-era project that put scores of Americans to work. When its $6.3 billion replacement opens in two years, it will be an international affair from the bottom up, an example of massive outsourcing that has drawn both praise and criticism. Half a dozen countries contributed expertise or materials, none more so than China. "China was immensely helpful to getting this project built," says California Department of Transportation spokesman Bart Ney. "They were able to turn the steel around and work directly with our own inspectors to make...

Caltrans is storing the three replicas until crosses can be relocated to nearby churchThe crosses at Inspirational Point in Julian were removed Tuesday morning around 4 a.m. by the California Department of Transportation. Caltrans received complaints from drivers earlier this summer that the crosses were erected without permit on state-owned property adjacent to State Route 79, east of Julian. The crosses are currently in storage, but Caltrans has plans to relocate them within the next 30 days to Hillside Community Church, where Pastor Rick Hill volunteered to host the three replicas. But Dorri Smith, a Julian resident, hopes to see...

RIVERSIDE - A fourth highway worker since early May has been struck in a freeway accident and is now in critical condition, Caltrans officials said. The worker, who has not yet been identified, is an employee of Skanska, a Caltrans subcontractor, said Caltrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga. He was struck today on the westbound 91 freeway at Van Buren Boulevard. Three other Caltrans workers have been struck in freeway accidents in the last two months. Richard Gonzalez, 52, was picking up trash June 20 on the 15 Freeway connector to Highway 94 in San Diego when he was struck by a...

Federal judge approves set asides and racial quotas for transportation contracts in California. A federal judge last week granted the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) the right to discriminate against white business owners and men when awarding contracts. The Pacific Legal Foundation had filed suit against the department on behalf of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of San Diego, insisting that its racial quota program violated the voter-approved Proposition 209 prohibition on race- and sex-based preferences in public contracting, employment and education. US District Court Judge John Mendez weighed the arguments, denied the Pacific Legal Foundation's motion and granted summary...

(07-06) 16:03 PDT FREMONT -- Caltrans apologized today for painting over a large American flag mural on a hillside above Interstate 680 just four days before the Fourth of July. The 40-foot-wide flag near the Sunol Grade, created by three men the week after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was covered in gray paint Wednesday by a Caltrans crew after the agency declared it to be graffiti. The move sparked outrage and prompted an apology from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. On Saturday, two men not involved in creating the original flag, James Gallagher and Steve Giordano, spent 12 hours...

Caltrans apologized Tuesday for covering a mural of an American flag on Interstate 680 last week, a move that triggered howls of indignation and inspired two men to repaint it, and the agency said it will meet with the original artists to create another mural. "Caltrans regrets the removal of the flag mural," Caltrans spokesman Matt Rocco said in a prepared statement. "The department will work with the artists and local community to discuss the department's current permitting process for transportation art with the goal of placing another mural at a suitable location." It cost $1,324.67 in labor, equipment and...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is apologizing for a decision by state transportation officials to paint over a giant American flag mural on the side of a Northern California freeway. The 35-foot long flag was painted on a concrete slab near Interstate 680 in Sunol by three men about two weeks after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. Even though the mural had been in clear view of commuters for nearly nine years, a Caltrans spokesman says it wasn't until last month that someone in the agency asked if the flag was on state property. Spokesman Allyn Amsk says it...

California residents are up in arms that a flag mural — paying homage to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks — was painted over after the state ruled it was graffiti. State transportation workers on Thursday turned the 35-foot hillside mural on Interstate 680 in Silicon Valley back into a gray slab of concrete, KTVU-TV reported. The explanation? It simply had been put on a list for graffiti remove, one official said. But the landmark had been a favorite among residents and motorists. "It just made me feel really patriotic just seeing it every day," motorcyclist Dave Freely told KTVU-TV....

The nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office said in a report today that Caltrans' Capital Outlay Support program is overstaffed and recommended that the state eliminate 1,500 full-time positions if the department cannot justify its staffing needs. The Capital Outlay Support (COS) program is responsible for environmental review, design and construction oversight of highway projects, among other responsibilities. LAO found that costs were higher at Caltrans than for comparable projects in other states and local transportation agencies. "We reviewed Caltrans' COS budget for recent years and found that the program's budget lacks sufficient workload justification," the LAO report states. " In order...

Under fire for mismanaging its vehicle fleet, Caltrans was rapped anew on Monday for grossly overstating the number of jobs it created or preserved with federal stimulus money. The criticism came from state Auditor Elaine Howle, who revealed the department's inflated numbers in a report. In October, Caltrans told the federal government that it created or preserved 1,590 jobs with $26.7 million the department received earlier this year under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus bill requires all recipients of federal money to file quarterly job updates, reporting numbers of jobs created or saved by projects. Howle's auditors...

Hundreds of thousands of Bay Area commuters remain in limbo today as crews scramble to complete an emergency repair to the workhorse Bay Bridge. The 73-year-old bridge, crossed by more than 260,000 cars and trucks a day, was shut down for a larger, unrelated seismic upgrade project. Now, crews are working to fix a cracked steel link, called an eyebar, that helps hold up the east span. Inspectors discovered the problem Saturday afternoon, setting in motion a dash to fix a problem that - by itself - would have forced officials to shut down the bridge. "There's a lot of...

A settlement has been reached between Caltrans and the San Diego Minutemen that gives the anti-illegal-immigration activists what they were hoping for: the right to keep their Adopt-A-Highway sign on northbound Interstate 5, a cash payment, and litter cleanup on an additional stretch of the freeway. The settlement was reached Monday, according to federal court records. In ending the lawsuit the group filed last year, the state conceded that the San Diego Minutemen sign near the Border Patrol's San Clemente checkpoint will remain for the duration of a five-year permit, and that the group may continue to clean the highway...

PASADENA, CALIF. — A fire official says 10 people were injured when a public transit bus collided with a car and rammed into obstacles on a Southern California street. The Pasadena Area Rapid Transit System bus struck the car, a traffic signal, a tree and a bus bench at an intersection Tuesday.

Anti-affirmative action advocate Ward Connerly and a Sacramento-based legal foundation today blasted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and President Barack Obama's administration for a recently-enacted California Department of Transportation policy that awards contracts based on a race- and gender-based quota system. The Pacific Legal Foundation, an individual rights and limited government watchdog group, said that it is filing a lawsuit today against Caltrans on behalf of Associated General Contractors of America to reverse the department's mandate that 6.75 percent of contracts receiving federal money go to women, African Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans and Native Americans. The foundation says that the policy violates federal...

An association of contractors accused Caltrans in a lawsuit Thursday of colluding with the Obama administration to flout California's ban on race and sex preferences by reserving some state road-building contracts for companies owned by minorities and women. "Caltrans is sideswiping the important principle of equal opportunity by using race, not lowest cost by a responsible bidder, to decide who gets government road and highway contracts," said Sharon Browne, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney who filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. The plaintiffs, the Associated General Contractors' San Diego chapter, seek to overturn the state Department of...

When it comes to his daily takeout lunch, attorney Peter Stuart Buchanan is a man of strict routine. He likes the same salmon from the same restaurant, always grilled on one side. He likes light olive oil, no salt, no pepper. He likes generous portions of carrots and green beans, and prefers them extra steamed. And he likes four potatoes on the side. But when unforeseen factors complicate his routine, serious consequences can ensue. Buchanan, 73, was charged in Marin Superior Court this week on allegations he drove through a construction barricade outside his favorite restaurant in Mill Valley and...

OAKLAND -- Bay area longshoremen were up in arms Friday night when they were denied work at one of Oakland's cargo terminals. The cargo ship, the Zhen Hua 19, pulled into Oakland's Pier Seven and on board was tons of steel slated to be used for the new Bay Bridge. Caltrans decided not to hire the ILWU Local 10 longshoremen to unload the vessel, a decision that angered some local union members.

Caltrans announced Tuesday its preferred method for improving the 405-101 freeway interchange, which the agency says is one of the busiest in the world. But don't get too excited. The agency also says that it doesn't have the money to design or build the project, which is expected to cost about $135 million. Still, this is one of those classic bottlenecks, and understanding why it doesn't work helps explain a lot of other bottlenecks on Southern California freeways. The big problem is that entrance and exit ramps have been placed too close to one another. The particular issue on the...

Caltrans has announced it will no longer accept applications for its Adopt-a-Highway volunteer cleanup program. The move comes after members of the San Diego Minutemen sued the state agency over the right to sponsor a stretch of I-5 south of San Clemente near a Border Patrol checkpoint. Caltrans routinely posts signs noting the individuals or groups who sponsor that particular stretch of highway, but removed the Minuteman group's sign in January. Caltrans officials said then that they feared vandalism or protesters along the freeway. Caltrans offered the group another stretch of San Diego County highway, but the Minutemen have sought...

NORTH COUNTY ---- The regional chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is backing the San Diego Minutemen in their battle to pick up trash near a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint. The civil rights group said it supports the Minutemen's efforts to win back permits to pick up freeway trash near the Interstate 5 checkpoint along Camp Pendleton and may join in the coming legal battle. "If people are surprised, they shouldn't be," David Blair-Loy, legal director of the ACLU Foundation of San Diego & Imperial Counties, said Friday. "The ACLU defends the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for...