The curtain lowered this week on Caltrans’ plan to widen U.S. Highway 101 through Richardson Grove — a plan so controversial it’s inspired numerous lawsuits and even mass naked supplications down among the lush giants. But it could rise again. In a news release, the Environmental Protection Information Center announced that “Conservation groups and local residents this […]
Caltrans
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Bay Trail North: Funded
The California Transportation Commission this week approved $3.1 million in grant funding for the construction of the Humboldt Bay trail between Arcata and Bracut, possibly paving the way for construction to begin next year. Officials described the grant as a “landmark,” and a major step forward for the long-talked about and debated project. Combined with […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
UPDATED Highway 96 Open, Fire Almost Out
SECOND UPDATE: Six Rivers National Forest reports that the Sugar Bowl Fire should be 100 percent contained by 6 p.m. this evening, July 28, and fully controlled by 6 p.m. July 29 The road is now open with no restrictions, although motorists “should be aware of potential hazards of rocks or debris rolling down from the […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Army Corps Halts Bypass Work
If you’ve driven though Willits lately, you’ve noticed the tan swaths of fill swooping through pasture along the east side of U.S. 101 and the spindly wooden forms revealing the future configuration of the Willits Bypass. Yes, the project’s substantially underway. And yet it continues to be riddled with problems. Most recently, the Army Corps […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Caltrans to Close 101 North Sunday
Thinking of cruising up to Crescent City this weekend? You might want to reconsider. Caltrans announced Wednesday that U.S. Highway 101 will be completely closed to traffic in Del Norte County just south of the Mill Creek Park entrance from 9 a.m. at least until 5 p.m. Sunday, March 16 as work crews stabilize a […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Caltrans and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Caltrans recently had what amounted to a very bad day. Specifically, Jan. 30, when Caltrans lost a major appellate court ruling on perhaps its highest profile North Coast project and was the subject of a scathing state report. First, the California Court of Appeals overturned a trial court decision and ruled that Caltrans must re-evaluate […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
UPDATED: Billboard Company Unleashes Lawyers Who Use Big Words
Looks like the company that owns all those billboards between Arcata and Eureka just recently found out that the Coastal Commission wants them all torn down. It’s response? “You can’t make us!” That’s a rough translation of the comically wordy lawyer-speak contained in from attorney Anthony M. Leones of Miller Starr Regalia on behalf of CBS Outdoor Inc., […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Caltrans Worker Hospitalized
A Caltrans worker is in intensive care in a Sonoma County hospital after being hit by a car in McKinleyville yesterday. According to a Caltrans press release, Equipment Operator Edward Holgersen was flagging at the Murray Road overcross at U.S. Highway 101. Holgersen, a father of four, is in stable condition. Drive safe, folks.
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Guest Opinion: NEC and Baykeeper Say 101 Plan ‘Reasonably Balanced’
Dan Ehresman of the Northcoast Environmental Center and Jessica Hall of Humboldt Baykeeper were just two of the numerous people who stood before the Coastal Commission last week and urged denial of a federal consistency determination. (The commission went the other way, with a few significant conditions applied.) This week the environmental leaders issued the following joint […]
Posted inNews (NCJ)
Coastal Commission Gives Conditional Go-Ahead to Caltrans’ 101 Corridor Project
Going against its own staff’s recommendation, the California Coastal Commission this evening voted 9-1 to give a conditional federal consistency determination (translation: a go-ahead) to Caltrans’ proposed project for the 101 corridor between Arcata and Eureka. And that’s not all: The “conditional” part of the approval means that Caltrans will have to address a number […]
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Correction
Last week’s cover story, “Building a Better Corridor,” said Eureka had hired GHD to study trail routes. The firm was actually hired by the county and the Humboldt Coalition of Governments. And a clarification: Neither the Northcoast Environmental Center nor Humboldt Baykeeper have endorsed a specific design alternative.
Posted inLetters + Opinion
Bay Trail Update No. 7
What a wild roller coaster ride this past week for those of us who support the Bay Trail, a proposed bicycle-and-pedestrian path along the bay between Arcata and Eureka. First, the Arcata City Council changed its position on the Caltrans 101 Safety Corridor Project, which comes before the California Coastal Commission in Eureka Thursday, from […]