California Department of Transportation

Information about California Department of Transportation

California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
Government agency
Founded1895
HeadquartersSacramento, California
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Caltrans headquarters in Sacramento
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District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles, birds-eye view (designed by Thom Mayne (2004))
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A typical Caltrans pickup truck
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government agency in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems in California.

For administrative purposes, Caltrans has divided the state of California into 12 districts supervised by district offices. Most districts cover multiple counties; District 12 (Orange County) is the only district with one county. The largest districts are District 4 (San Francisco Bay Area) and District 7 (Los Angeles and Ventura counties). As a state agency, its main headquarters are located in Sacramento, which is covered by District 3.

Caltrans has a reputation for being both innovative and stubbornly idiosyncratic. In 1950, it developed the typeface family, FHWA, now used nationwide on road signs (though not its 2004 replacement, Clearview). It pioneered Botts dots as a superior form of lane marking. It has frequently been criticized for proposing and often constructing ugly bridges and has several times been forced to redesign such structures in response to public outcry. It has long experimented with freeway-to-freeway stack interchanges of increasing height and complexity. It was the last state highway department in the United States to number its freeway exits (the Cal-NExUS program), and one of the last to switch from dark green "button copy" signs to bright green reflective signs. In the 1990s, Caltrans aggressively added carpool lanes on freeways to reduce traffic congestion.

Although state highways generally adhere to consistent minimum design standards throughout much of the state, there are some policy and construction differences between the northern and southern district offices. For example, Northern California carpool lanes are always directly adjacent to mainline traffic lanes and are restricted to carpools only during weekday commute hours, while Southern California carpool lanes are always separated from mainline lanes (except at designated entrance/exit areas) and most are restricted at all times.

Over the last several decades Caltrans has supervised extensive seismic retrofitting of structures throughout California, in addition to creating far more stringent design criteria for new construction.

History

The earliest predecessor of Caltrans was the Bureau of Highways, which was created by the California Legislature and signed into law by Governor James Budd in 1895.[1] This agency consisted of three commissioners who were charged with analyzing the state road system and making recommendations. After the commissioners submitted their report to the Governor on November 25, 1896, the Legislature replaced the Bureau with the Department of Highways.[2]

Due to the state's weak fiscal condition and corrupt politics, little progress was made until 1907, when the Legislature replaced the Department of Highways with the Department of Engineering, within which there was a Division of Highways.[3] The voters approved a $18 million bond issue for the construction of a state highway system in 1910 and the first Highway Commission was convened in 1911.[4] On August 7, 1912, the Department broke ground on its first construction project, the section of El Camino Real between South San Francisco and Burlingame.[5] 1912 also saw the founding of the Transportation Laboratory and the creation of seven administrative divisions (the ancestors of the 12 district offices that exist today).[6]

In 1913, the Legislature started requiring vehicle registration and allocated the resulting funds to support regular highway maintenance, which began the next year.[7]

In 1921, the Legislature turned the Department of Engineering into the Department of Public Works.[8]

In late 1972, the Legislature approved a reorganization (suggested by a study initiated by Governor Ronald Reagan), in which the Department of Public Works was merged with the Department of Aeronautics to become the Department of Transportation.[9]

Important projects

Several important projects include Interstate 105, the reconstruction of the CA-91-CA-60-I-215 interchange, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (East Span), and the Devil's Slide tunnel scheduled to be completed in 2011.

See also

External links

References

1. ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 11
2. ^ Id., at 12.
3. ^ Id.
4. ^ Id.
5. ^ Id., at 13.
6. ^ Id.
7. ^ Id.
8. ^ Id., at 32.
9. ^ Id., at 128.
For other senses of the word "agency", see agency.


A government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an
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City of Sacramento, California

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Public transport, public transportation, public transit or mass transit comprise all transport systems in which the passengers do not travel in their own vehicles.
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A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. Originally, in continental Europe, a county was the land under the jurisdiction of a count.
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Orange County is a county in Southern California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana. According to the 2000 Census, its population was 2,846,289, making it the second most populous county in the state of California, and the fifth most populous in the United States.
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San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay, is a geographically and ethnically diverse metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco Bay in Northern California.
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Los Angeles County is a county in California and is by far the most populous county in the United States. Figures from the U.S. Census Bureau give an estimated 2006 population of 9,948,081 residents, [1] while the California State government's population bureau
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Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California (Southern California). It is located on California's Pacific coast, and forms the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
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City of Sacramento, California

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Location of Sacramento in Sacramento County, California
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FHWA Series fonts <nowiki /> Category Sans-serif
<nowiki />
Designer(s) Ted Forbes <nowiki /> <nowiki />
Foundry N/A <nowiki /> <nowiki /> <nowiki /> <nowiki /> <nowiki /> <nowiki /> <nowiki />
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Clearview <nowiki /> Category Sans-serif
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Designer(s) Martin Pietrucha
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Botts' dots are round nonreflective raised pavement markers for use on roads. In many U.S. states and in several other countries, Botts' dots are used along with reflective raised pavement markers to mark lanes on highways and many arterial roads.
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The word lane has two meanings:
  1. a portion of a paved road which is intended for a single line of vehicles and is marked by white or yellow lines. This article elaborates only on this meaning.
  2. a narrow road, usually lacking a shoulder or a median.

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road junction is a location where vehicular traffic going in different directions can proceed in a controlled manner designed to minimize accidents. In some cases, vehicles can change between different routes or directions of travel.
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Motto
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"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
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freeway — also known as a highway, superhighway, autoroute, autobahn, autopista, autovía, autostrada, dual carriageway, expressway, or motorway — is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade
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Traffic congestion is a condition on any network as use increases and is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased queueing. The most common example is for physical use of roads by vehicles.
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Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern
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Carpooling (also known as ride-sharing, lift-sharing), is shared use of a car, in particular for commuting to work, often by people who each have a car but travel together to save costs and in the interest of other socio-environmental benefits mentioned below.
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Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region,
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Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. Other retrofit techniques are applicable to areas subject to tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and severe winds from
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California State Legislature

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President of the Senate John Garamendi, Democrat
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Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Núñez, Democrat
since February 9, 2004

Members 120
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James Herbert Budd (May 18, 1851 – July 30, 1908) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. Involved in federal and state politics, Budd was a member of the U.S.
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