Highways

Ed Savko, who bought a small-town grocery known as the Rock Store on Mulholland Highway in 1961 and turned it into an internationally recognized motorcycle mecca frequented by celebrities, businessmen, outlaw clubs and other bikers, has died. He was 86. Savko, who made it a weekend ritual to ride the twisty Santa Monica Mountains roads and stop at his hangout to swap stories and grab a bite to eat, died April 2 of congestive heart failure at Los Robles Hospital's Transitional Care Center in Thousand Oaks, according to his daughter, Sandra Clark.

Congress averted a threatened shutdown of the federal highway program but continues to face a bumpy ride in crafting a multi-year transportation bill that seeks to create jobs and ease traffic congestion. The Republican-controlled House on Thursday approved a three-month extension in highway spending, and the Democratic-led Senate grudgingly followed suit, maintaining the government's authority to collect gasoline taxes and fund projects beyond Saturday. As has become all too familiar, lawmakers acted at the last minute to prevent the loss of $110 million a day in tax revenues, the slowing down of projects and the furlough of thousands of federal workers.

Wading into a divisive, politically charged debate, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said Wednesday that California should issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. The chief becomes one of the most prominent local figures to support the idea that state lawmakers have battled over repeatedly in the last 15 years. And Beck's stance is certain to further inflame critics who are already angry at the chief for his efforts to liberalize rules on how his officers impound the cars of unlicensed drivers.

Federal safety investigators have announced their second probe in less than a week involving fires starting in the driver's side doors of vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had opened an investigation into reports of fires in 2006-07 Chevrolet Trailblazers manufactured by General Motors Co. Last week, the agency said it was looking into the cause of fires in 2007 model year Toyota Camry sedans and RAV-4 sport utility vehicles. In both cases, the agency said it appeared that the fires started in the power window master switch on the door.

End of the road? Re "Walking away from a highway," Jan. 29 So Caltrans wants to abandon California Highway 39 in the San Gabriel Mountains to save $1.5 million a year in repair costs. I have a suggestion that will save even more money: Abandon the sections of the Pacific Coast Highway that are prone to landslides. Caltrans seems to work quickly to reopen PCH when numerous landslides occur during the rainy season. Abandoning the sections of PCH that continue to have a high landslide risk would surely save more money than the paltry amount spent on Highway 39. Of course, in some areas this would cause the loss of convenient beach access, and some coastal businesses would probably close.

Good news for road trippers heading to Highway 1: No need to detour off the Central Coast roadway -- at least not for now. The small section of California's Highway 1 that had been blocked by a rock slide for a week and a half was reopened to two-way traffic along a single lane on midday Tuesday, a Caltrans announcement says. The area at mile marker 22 just south of the town of Lucia forced travelers heading north from Cambria or south from Big Sur to detour around the slide area.

In a standoff with federal forest officials, Caltrans is proposing to abandon a popular, cliff-hanging highway in the San Gabriel Mountains because it is too expensive to maintain. The proposal to walk away from California Highway 39, enjoyed by an estimated 3 million people a year, comes as the state struggles to close a $9.2-billion budget shortfall. To avoid closure, the California Department of Transportation is trying to persuade the U.S. Forest Service or Los Angeles County to take over the roadway, which runs 27 miles from the city of Azusa nearly to the crest of the San Gabriels.

Winter storms that brought rain to California's Central Coast caused a big rock slide on Highway 1 that has shut traffic in both directions about 25 miles south of Big Sur, according to Caltrans. The road closed around 3 p.m. Sunday and remained shut Monday with no estimated time of reopening. "The rock slide is due to rain over the weekend," Caltrans spokesman Jim Shivers said, adding that road crews were on site and assessing the damage. The closure is near Limekiln Creek near the town of Lucia.  Northbound travelers who want to go to Big Sur, where all businesses remain open, should head east on California 46 near Cambria and connect with the 101 Freeway north.

The recipe for Subaru's compact Impreza is getting a rewrite for 2012. Previously, it was like a bag of trail mix that skimped on the M&Ms. The Impreza was a hearty, go-anywhere offering that was long on nutrition but short on a key ingredient to sweeten the concoction and broaden its appeal. That ingredient was fuel economy, and for 2012, Subaru added it by the handful. The company now brags that this new model, available as a sedan and a hatchback, is the most fuel-efficient all-wheel-drive vehicle in the U.S. Throw in a touch of new styling and the acclaimed Subaru constitution of an ice-fishing nudist and the 2012 model is impressive indeed.