Tag: Cal-Trans

Rocky Creek Viaduct web page

Cal Trans has established a web page devoted to this project. At the current time (I just checked it) it only has the artists rendering of how it will look when one is driving upon it. However, just today, Ken, the project manager, renewed his commitment to post all news releases and closure schedules on this page. I am posting a link here, but it will also “live” above in my permanent first post, called “Notices.”
Rocky Creek Viaduct Project
Bookmark it!

Further, Cal-Trans is announcing this afternoon that the first overnight closure has been moved up a day to Sunday October 14th, starting at 9 pm. Unless notified otherwise, assume that this is the beginning of the Sunday through Thursday closures, and that these overnight closures will last the rest of the week, opening up for Friday and Saturday.

Also note, we may have our first rain come in tomorrow. Will probably be scattered and not much, but anything to settle the dust will be most welcomed. Will check on this and post more later.

And another note, yesterday afternoon and evening saw two fires. One north at Jack’s Peak, and one south at Pico, just north of San Simeon. Both contained rapidly.

Rocky Creek Viaduct closure, press release number 1

This came yesterday, but I had already provided the basic info through advance notice and had some other things I wanted to post about. These notices of closures and the impact on community and visitors will hopefully develop a rhythm of their own, and I will only be posting about this once a week, but until that rhythm gets established, I’ll just go with it here.

“Today’s Date: Thursday, September 27, 2012
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito
and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1/ROCKY CREEK VIADUCT PROJECT IS UNDERWAY—
OVERNIGHT CLOSURES TO BEGIN OCTOBER 11

MONTEREY COUNTY – Following the survey results from the Big Sur community,
the hours for full closures of Hwy. 1 at Rocky Creek will be 9 pm to 7 am
beginning Thursday, Oct. 11 through the end of February, Caltrans officials
have announced.

Roadwork will occur seven days a week, 24/7 with one-way signalized traffic
control. Traffic will be stopped for 10 minutes at a time. However, full
overnight closures will take place five nights a week Sundays through
Thursdays.

The project to construct a permanent viaduct about 15 miles south of Carmel
near the Rocky Creek Bridge along Highway 1 began on Sept. 4. Completion is
scheduled by Labor Day 2013, weather permitting.

This project came about after a roadway slipout caused severe damage to the
southbound lane and required Hwy. 1 to be closed from north of Big Sur and
south of Carmel at Rocky Creek from March 17 through April 16, 2011. The
contractor for this $12 million project is Golden State Bridge Inc. of
Martinez, CA

In order to minimize traffic impact as part of the project, there will be
advance notification for motorists, residents and businesses via a traffic
hotline, electronic message signs and email notifications.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving
through highway work zones.

For more information, please visit: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/projects/
or contact the Hwy. 1 Cambria to Carmel Toll-Free Hotline at 888-836-0866.”

Rocky Creek road closures

What Kathleen Lee’s message below does not make clear is that these closures are intermittent, not every Sunday-Thursday, but approximately 10 of them through the winter, and another round with fewer closures, scheduled for Spring. All closures will be preceded with adequate notice to all.

“The work to build the Rocky Creek Viaduct has started. Hard closures of the highway, where no vehicle traffic through the construction site will be allowed, will begin at the start of October. In order to place the equipment and do the drilling work, the contractor will be allowed to close the highway for 10 hour blocks during the evening hours, Sunday through Thursday nights. These hard closures are anticipated to take place October through the end of January.

Caltrans has designed the project to have the smallest possible impact on the highway, and is working diligently with the contractor to ensure that these hard closures and the intermittent daylight closures occur during times when the work will have the least impact on the residents, businesses and travelling public.

Currently, the hard closures are scheduled from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am, Sunday through Thursday nights. After hearing from the community various concerns about these scheduled times, Caltrans would like your input as to the best hours for the hard closures.

Please respond to this survey as to what your preferred hours of closure are. Based upon all results, a decision on the hours of closure will be announced soon. For those hours that are later in the morning, these will only be an option if Caltrans and Carmel Unified School District can make arrangements so that the students can get to school on time.

Share this survey with your neighbors, employees and people who regularly travel the coast so that we have the broadest possible outreach into the Big Sur community for this important decision. Due to the short timing, please respond by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, September 18th. Please only respond once. Thank you for your help.

Link to Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BY9JGDG

Kathleen Lee
Chief of Staff for
Supervisor Dave Potter
(831) 647-7755″

Rocky Creek Closures meeting

Hi Everyone.

Please join us at the Big Sur Lodge at 10:00 AM this Friday to discuss traffic management on the Rocky Creek Viaduct project. The main speaker for Caltrans will be the District 5 Chief of Maintenance and Operations, Steve Price,

Possible topics for discussion, listed below, are based on questions I’ve been receiving from the Big Sur community over the last few days.
Why does the highway need to be closed?
Can the start time of the closure be moved to later in the evening?
Can the highway be opened up for a limited amount of time during the night to allow passage?
Did Caltrans notify the community of the need for these closures?
Other questions.

I’m looking forward to meeting you all. There will be hot coffee and tea waiting for you when you arrive.

Thank you,

Ken Dostalek
Caltrans District 5
Project Management
(805) 549-3133

Profile, Willow Springs Supervisor

Recently, a new face came to the South Coast, at the Willow Springs Maintenance Yard. His name is Greg DeAlba. He is the new supervisor. He came to us from Santa Barbara where he was a lead worker, which sometimes entails acting as supervisor. He has six years experience with Cal Trans, although his father has over 30 years.

20120907-120952.jpg

He oversees a crew of six. Currently, he has only four on his crew, including himself. One of his crew, another Greg, also comes to us from Santa Barbara, and has only been here a short time. The other, Joel, comes from the Cambria station, and has been here a few months longer. When I asked him what he thought the major difference between the Santa Barbara station and this one is, he replied: “The quiet. You can go out on the road first thing in the morning and not see another car.” He recently hiked a couple miles up the back country behind the Willow Springs Yard, and is completely taken with the beauty of his new home.

He acknowledges that keeping the road clear this first winter will be his biggest challenge, but he is enthusiastic, and says he, Greg, and Joel all love to work, and are looking forward to and are up for the challenge.

Greg is married with three children, the oldest of which just started second grade at Pacific Valley School.

Vandalism on the South Coast

It is hard to fathom what kind of mentality finds it necessary to deface our beautiful coast, but there are those for whom the natural beauty of this place is not sacred.This type of person, and thankfully there are few, must create what can only be considered an abomination – an affront to Our Mother and her spectacular beauty.

Wally Barnick of Coast Ridge Outfitters, Big Sur (next to Fernwood) sent me this photo yesterday.

20120905-185316.jpg

So, I contacted the new supervisor of Willow Springs, Greg DeAlba, (look for a profile of our new supervisor in the next few days), and asked him about Cal Trans plans for dealing with this vandalism on their retaining wall. He informed me there was currently a discussion going on about painting or staining this wall so that it blended in with it’s surroundings. He said he would keep me informed about the outcome of this discussion, and I will be following up to make sure this shameful affront to our coast is eradicated as soon as possible.

Today, I got to witness this for myself. I am befuddled by the idea that anyone could be so insensitive to the remarkable beauty of this place to do something like this. What will it take for all our visitors to be respectful of this place we call home and which we share with MILLIONS of visitors every year? What will it take?

Viaduct Meeting tomorrow

Hello Big Sur Folks,

Please join me at the Big Sur Station Multi-Agency Facility conference room at 10:00 AM Thursday August 30 to review traffic management issues during construction and discuss any questions, concerns, or recommendations you might have. Joining me to help answer your questions will be Tyler Lavering, the Resident Engineer assigned to the project, and Colin Jones, the District 5 Public Information Officer. I hope we can be of service to you.

Sincerely,

Ken Dostalek
Caltrans District 5 (San Luis Obispo)
Project Management Division

Email: ken_dostalek@dot.ca.gov
Office Phone: (805) 549-3133

Meeting Agenda
Welcome and Introductions
Provide Up-to-date Construction Schedule
Review Traffic Management Plan and Lane Closure Charts
Discuss Impacts to:
Emergency Services
Businesses
School Buses
Travellers
Community
Discuss possible ways to minimize impacts
Follow up meeting with the BSMAAC in October

Rocky Creek Viaduct, Emergency Services

It is confirmed, the meeting regarding the effect of the Rocky Creek Viaduct on Emergency Services, if any, will take place this Thursday at MAF at 10:00 am, with a follow-up question and answer period at the BSMAAC in Oct.

Rocky Creek Viaduct

Today’s Date: Monday, August 13, 2012
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1/ROCKY CREEK VIADUCT PROJECT TO BEGIN AFTER LABOR DAY

MONTEREY COUNTY – A project to construct a permanent viaduct about 15 miles
south of Carmel near the Rocky Creek Bridge along Highway 1 will begin
after Labor Day, Caltrans officials have announced.

This project came about after a roadway slipout caused severe damage to the
southbound lane and required Hwy. 1 to be closed from north of Big Sur and
south of Carmel at Rocky Creek from March 17 through April 16, 2011.

Roadwork is scheduled to begin after Labor Day and be completed by the end
of 2013. In addition, some planting of new vegetation will occur.

The contractor for this $11 million project is Golden State Bridge Inc. of
Martinez. (Ed. Note: This is the same company that has been doing both the bridge at Pitkin’s Curve and the rock shed at Rain Rocks.)

In order to minimize impact and as part of the project, some overnight
closures will take place but there will be plenty of advance notification
for motorists, residents and businesses.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving
through highway work zones.

For traffic updates on other state highways in Monterey County, motorists
can call Caltrans District 5 Public Affairs at (805) 549-3318 or visit the
District 5 website at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/road_information.htm

Susana Z. Cruz
Public Information Officer /
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
(805) 549-3138
(805) 549-3326–Fax

On another note, Jack Ellwanger is leaving Big Sur, and is looking for someone to take over the WildBigSur emailings.

Overnight road closures

(See attached file: Cambria to Carmel
Update–4OvernightClosures4RoofPanels7.3.12.doc)

Today’s Date: Tuesday, July 3, 2012
District: 5 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and
San
Benito Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (Bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or (805) 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1 CARMEL TO CAMBRIA ROADWAY UPDATE

OVERNIGHT CLOSURES AT BRIDGE AND ROCK SHED-FOUR NIGHTS STARTING MONDAY

MONTEREY COUNTY: Bridge and rock shed work continues on Highway 1 at
Pitkins/Rain Rocks (PM 21.3), 1.8 miles south of Lucia and 25 miles south
of Big Sur as part of the bridge and rock shed project, Caltrans officials
have announced.

Four overnight full Hwy. 1 closures of the bridge and rock shed are
necessary for the roof panels to be placed overhead on the rock shed
starting Monday, July 9 through Thursday, July 12 from 9 pm to 6 am
(finishing on Friday morning, July 13).

Electronic message signs will be posted at each end of the closure and at
three other locations alerting motorists of the closure ahead. Emergency
vehicles will be allowed through, although it may involve up to 30-minute
delays.

All roadwork on the $30 million project is expected to be completed by
Spring of 2013.

A permanent viaduct repair project is being implemented for Rocky Creek. It
is an $11 million project to begin after Labor Day. More details to follow.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving through
highway construction zones.

For more information on Monterey County projects, call the toll-free
hotline at (888) 836-0866 or visit
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/projects/. The public may also call the statewide
CHIN at (800) 427-7623 for
updates on current traffic conditions.

Susana Z. Cruz
Public Information Officer /
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
(805) 549-3138
(805) 549-3326–Fax