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Updated May 7th, 2009
Work to Begin Soon On
Angeles Crest Escape Medians
By ERIC NOLAND
The Outlook
Work to restore the gravel
escape medians on Angeles Crest
Highway in La Cañada Flintridge
will likely begin in the next week or
two, a Caltrans spokeswoman said
Wednesday.
And not a moment too soon: Caltrans also announced that the
section of the highway between Islip
Saddle and Big Pine, which has
been closed for four years because
of a landslide, will reopen May 20.
That means that trucks entering
Southern California on Interstate 15
in the Cajon Pass will have a new
option — crossing the San Gabriel
Mountains on Angeles Crest
Highway and rolling into the heart
of La Cañada Flintridge.
Currently, five-axle vehicles are
prohibited from using the highway
as the result of a temporary Caltrans
restriction, put into effect after a
runaway big rig killed two people
and injured more than a dozen in a
spectacular crash on April 1. A bill
written by Assemblyman Anthony
Portantino would put much sharper
teeth in the ban, prohibiting commercial
vehicles of more than two
axles or weighing five tons or more,
but it isn’t expected to reach the
floor of the Assembly for a vote
until after the road is reopened.
Heavy trucks experiencing
brake trouble will soon have an
alternative to slamming into cars
and Foothill Boulevard businesses,
though. Work to rebuild the three
escape medians in the center of the
highway on the approach to town
“should be starting soon and finished
within four more weeks,”
Caltrans spokeswoman Maria
Raptis said Wednesday. (The medians
were abandoned in the 1980s
and the signs alerting drivers to their
existence came down in 1989, she
added.)
The project calls for the gravel
in the medians to be scooped out
and replaced with an 18-inch bed of
a new gravel mixture. Screens will
be constructed to prevent gravel
from spraying from the wheels of a
runaway truck. And at the end of the
escape run — the southernmost
point of the third median — yellow,
barrel-shaped crash cushions will be
installed. A lot of them. “There
could be 80 to 100,” Raptis said.
Residents living west of Angeles
Crest Highway can breathe a sigh of
relief for another reason. At this
time, Caltrans has no plans to prohibit
left-hand turns across the
escape path and onto such streets as
Fairview Drive, Willadonda Drive,
Angeles Crest Circle, Olive Lane
and Green Lane.
Other interim measures include
signs warning drivers of a 5% grade
on the seven-mile stretch of highway
on the approach to La Cañada
Flintridge and warnings of an 8%
grade on the final run toward
Foothill, plus signs for a brake
check area just outside town and
weight-warning signs on the 14
Freeway.
Portantino’s bill, AB1361, is
currently in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee, but its
language has been strengthened in
the past week. Its restrictions would
now apply to a truck that is under
the weight limit but is towing a car
boat or trailer that raises the total
weight of the rig above the 5-ton
limit. Also, the $1,000 fine for
offenders was rewritten to say “minimum”
— it could be higher.
To enhance the bill’s chances
for passage, local Girl Scout Malia
Mailes has a form that can be printed
out and faxed to the Legislature
in support of the measure. She has
offered to e-mail the form to anyone
who is interested. Contact her
at bugmalia@aol.com.
“Malia has been amazing,” said Portantino spokesman Michael
Tamariz. “We’ve gotten 100 letters
of support. She’s doing an absolutely
fantastic job.”
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