PSA: California roads are a mess

[McRat]

...
I remember talking to a highway construction flagger one hot afternoon as he admired my Model X. He said, "I love your car, and it is the right way to go, but it is going to put me out of job because you don't pay any gas taxes". When the new EV tax was passed this year, I remembered what he said and thought.... yep the new taxes seem fair.

Technically, due to the very small number of EVs, and the larger gains in MPG of the ICE fleet, it was CAFE that reduces the gas sales tax income. EVs are still just a blip on the radar at this point. But due to their higher price than ICE equivalents, an EV normally pays more taxes per car than ICE cars do to the state.

Oddly, we do not use Auto Sales Taxes for roads.

 

[cpa]

This may have been true in the past, but I have driven over 30,000 miles last year on CA roads. Outside of Bay Area and Los Angeles, I found roads to be in VERY GOOD condition. I have pointed this in another thread as well. Highway 5 is in excellent shape and is constantly being maintained, so is 80, 50, 40, 10 (especially from Palm Springs to Blythe). I recently drove over to Tahoe and took the Monitor pass over to 395. Drove south in 395 all the way to San Diego via Mojave desert. I was shocked to see the amazing condition of the roads in such remote regions. I even took a break to hike Mt Whitney and the Whitney portal was freshly paved beautiful road. Same with the remote Red rock lake road off 395. I also drove all the way to Mt Shasta and found 5 to be in great condition. The other day I dropped off my dog at a place near Sacramento and was pleasantly surprised that highway 99 leading to highway 70 is paved to European standards. You can see Google street view here: Google Maps

Most of the road closures are due to land slides. Not sure how realistically you can prevent them in a state that has massive coastlines as well mountain roads

I agree and disagree with some of your observations, dmode. Interstate 5 is only fair from Williams to Shasta Lake. There are some rough spots to Weed (which they were working on a month ago when I was driving.) Eighty over the Sierra is in bad shape. It needs a lot of work. The pavement is uneven and rough approaching Donner Summit and westward beyond. Not on your list is SR99. This has been a work in progress for ten years. About half the highway from its split from I5 north of the Grapevine to Sacramento has been upgraded to interstate standards and is in quite good condition. But there are still awful stretches--Bakersfield, most of Tulare County, Atwater to Livingston, and Stockton to Sac.

I agree that US395 is in fine condition, as is the new alignment for 99 north of its split from I5 east of the airport. And SR89 over Monitor Pass is also in good condition. However, when CalTrans plows the roads to reopen them after their winter closures, CalTrans also performs maintenance and repair before they open the gates. They do this on SR4, SR108, SR89 and SR120. These maintenance and repair items could be in their annual budget so they do not need to scrounge around looking for funds--but I do not know for certain.

(Whitney Portal Road is not part of the California Highway System. It is maintained by Inyo County Roads.)

Thanks for your observations!

 

[dmode]

I agree and disagree with some of your observations, dmode. Interstate 5 is only fair from Williams to Shasta Lake. There are some rough spots to Weed (which they were working on a month ago when I was driving.) Eighty over the Sierra is in bad shape. It needs a lot of work. The pavement is uneven and rough approaching Donner Summit and westward beyond. Not on your list is SR99. This has been a work in progress for ten years. About half the highway from its split from I5 north of the Grapevine to Sacramento has been upgraded to interstate standards and is in quite good condition. But there are still awful stretches--Bakersfield, most of Tulare County, Atwater to Livingston, and Stockton to Sac.

I agree that US395 is in fine condition, as is the new alignment for 99 north of its split from I5 east of the airport. And SR89 over Monitor Pass is also in good condition. However, when CalTrans plows the roads to reopen them after their winter closures, CalTrans also performs maintenance and repair before they open the gates. They do this on SR4, SR108, SR89 and SR120. These maintenance and repair items could be in their annual budget so they do not need to scrounge around looking for funds--but I do not know for certain.

(Whitney Portal Road is not part of the California Highway System. It is maintained by Inyo County Roads.)

Thanks for your observations!

Thank you for your comments. I agree that there are areas that require work, but California is a huge state, so it is understandable that not all roads will be in good condition. Since you seem to have traveled even more than me, would you agree that CA roads being bad is a bit of an outdated assessment ?

 

[cpa]

Thank you for your comments. I agree that there are areas that require work, but California is a huge state, so it is understandable that not all roads will be in good condition. Since you seem to have traveled even more than me, would you agree that CA roads being bad is a bit of an outdated assessment ?

My take is that the roads are still bad. I am not an expert on roads. There are so many potholes and cracks on the pavement itself. These situations are patched when convenient only to crumble 18-24 months later, depending on weather and traffic. Lane lines have worn away on many roads. Shoulders are non-existent or need grading and upkeep. Barriers are broken. Important signs are sometimes are in need of repair or replacement. (On northbound SR99 at the Atwater exit, the overhead sign to direct traffic to stay on SR99 is an overlay from 1960. Highway 99 used to be part of the federal system, so it was US99 with that familiar shield. When California renumbered it highways in 1964, US99 became California 99, and received our miner's spade shape. The California Department of Transportation simply peeled off the US shield and overlaid the miner's spade shield, but kept the rest of the sign. It is clearly visible. This was over 50 years ago, but I digress...)

Less apparent are the culverts, drainage ditches and other infrastructure that is neglected. Interstate 10 had some issues earlier this year when there was some heavy precipitation that overwhelmed the 45-year-old culverts beneath the freeway.

There was even a report issued some time ago that indicated that many of our bridges and overpasses need serious work. I do not recall where I saw this report.

I also believe that with the incredible traffic that we have on our highways here, it is difficult to perform routine preventative maintenance and corrective maintenance properly--to last--without a major disruption to motorists.