Road Repair

Calle Real does not look like a street that has made history. It is just an anonymous frontage road, choked by weeds, beside U.S. 101 on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. But crouch beside the right-turn lane near the bowling alley, study the asphalt, and you will see hundreds of tiny white flecks glistening in the sun--visible evidence that Calle Real was the first street in the country composed of ground-up toilets.

Frustrated motorists could be forced to wait up to two months before a large sinkhole that shut down a popular one-mile stretch of Mulholland Drive below Studio City is repaired. A 35-foot wide, 10-foot deep hole developed along the scenic roadway during a heavy rainstorm Feb. 7, officials said. Nearly two weeks later, the damage forced the full closure of the westbound side of the road between Skyline and Bowmont drives in the Santa Monica Mountains. Repairs will require the construction of a "bulkhead-type retaining structure," approximately 75 feet long, which will give lateral support to the affected portion of the roadway, said Cora Jackson-Fossett, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Works.

The third strong storm of the year is expected to arrive in the Southland on Thursday night, but it isn't likely to slow down efforts to repair quake-damaged roads or buildings. "Most of the work we're involved in currently involves demolition and heavy equipment," Caltrans spokesman Russell Snyder said Tuesday. "The rain shouldn't hinder that."

When Sepulveda Boulevard's namesake reigned in the 1840s, the present-day road was part of a huge cattle ranch with grazing land and canyons studded with oaks and sycamores. Few motorists who now crawl along the Westside thoroughfare know about Francisco Sepulveda, but they can be excused for feeling a little like the rancher's cattle as they inch along in rush hour traffic. Officials have talked for years about improving Sepulveda, which is a major route into Los Angeles International Airport.

Road repairs are slated to begin Monday on Mureau Road between Las Virgenes and Calabasas roads in Calabasas, a Los Angeles County Public Works Department representative said Wednesday. The work, which includes resurfacing the road as well as installation of a guardrail, will be performed under a $128,629 contract awarded to Berry General Engineering Contractors Inc., of Oxnard. Traffic lanes on Mureau and Round Meadow roads will be reduced during daytime work hours.

Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved spending as much as $115,000 to repair and improve roads in Sherman Oaks. Supervisor Ed Edelman said the road project will repair areas of roads damaged by trench settlement after construction of a county storm drain project. Trench settlement occurs when a road is paved over a flood control drainpipe, and the soil under the road compacts and potholes form.

Roadwork on several city streets will begin in the downtown area Monday. The street improvements will take place on Coast Highway and Del Prado Avenue between Street of the Blue Lantern and Street of the Copper Lantern. "Merchants along these streets have expressed their concerns about the heavy traffic flow and speeding cars in this area of the city, and we feel the improvements will alleviate many of their concerns," said Steve Avila, city public works superintendent.

The city embarked last week on the first phase of a major street repair program that will fix or replace all 128 miles of the city's streets within 10 years. The $17-million repair program was developed after a yearlong study analyzed the condition of every block of city roads and recommended repairs. The first stage, which began Thursday, is a $700,000 project paid for through state gasoline tax funds that will fix 25% of the city's roads in four weeks.

Both lanes of a heavily traveled route in Yosemite National Park reopened at noon Friday, in time for the Memorial Day weekend. A quarter-mile section of roadway on the western side of the park, near the junction of El Portal and Big Oak Flat roads, had been eroded by the nearby Merced River and was in danger of collapsing. Workers have been repairing the road since December, causing periodic shutdowns and traffic delays. Most of the work has now been completed. -- Jason Song

More than 100 people crowded into the City Council chambers this week, most to voice opposition to a proposed road repair fee that would cost the average homeowner on a public street about $130 a year. During about two hours of public testimony, a vast majority of the residents, many of them senior citizens, said they believed the proposed fee is inequitable because homeowners on private streets would pay less.

Five thousand pounds of metal from the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge fell on commuters Tuesday because vibrations, worsened by a windstorm, caused steel rods to break, a spokesman for Caltrans said Wednesday. Bart Fey, the spokesman, said drivers should find "other routes around the Bay Area over the next day or so" while repairs and testing continue. He said the bridge was expected to be closed this morning, and he did not know when it would reopen. The part that failed was installed over the Labor Day weekend in an emergency repair after inspectors discovered a crack in a critical structural beam.

The sensation is palpable, if not slightly remarkable. There you are hurtling southbound in the No. 3 lane on the Long Beach Freeway. Your car is rattling, your tailbone jumping to the rhythm of a concrete washboard abused by years of heavy trucks and piecemeal repairs. Then it happens, between the 105 and Rosecrans. You hit a bump, and suddenly your tires purr, your coffee settles in its cup and the radio reception seems more crisp. You may not know why -- it is the nature of freeways that we seldom consider their mechanics -- but you are now experiencing the I-710 Long Life Pavement Project, as Caltrans calls it. Begun in 2001 and scheduled for completion in the next five years, the transformation of one of Southern California's most neglected freeways is hardly an exercise in speed.

With extreme heat and wind and low humidity forecast for next week, firefighters stepped up their final attack Saturday on the Station fire, calling in four helicopters to douse hot spots near Mt. Wilson with water and fire retardant. Fire officials feel a sense of urgency to extinguish still-smoldering areas and reduce the risk of embers igniting brush during the hot days ahead. Of particular concern were hot spots in rugged, inaccessible terrain on the north face of Mt. Wilson, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Brian Grant.

Officials raced Monday to fix a large broken water main in Studio City and braced for tough rush-hours today near Coldwater Canyon Avenue, a heavily used mountain route connecting the San Fernando Valley to the Westside. Commuters are advised to avoid the area and, if forced to detour, stick to Beverly Glen Boulevard to the west and Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the east rather than wind their way through unfamiliar mountain streets. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power crews finished welding the 62-inch water main -- one of the largest in the city -- that burst late Saturday, flooding residences and washing away cars in a powerful torrent that lasted hours.

Blessed with abundant natural resources, stunning natural beauty and a rich history as a place where dreams come true, we Californians see success as our birthright. Sure, we're in the doldrums now, but our experience tells us that California always comes back. However, what if reviving California this time requires more than simply waiting for the next wave of prosperity? The latest UCLA Anderson Forecast predicted that the nation will have the weakest economic recovery of the postwar era, and California won't lead the way out. Its forecasts see no improvement on the jobs front until 2011.

Two years ago, California voters approved the sale of nearly $43 billion in state bonds for housing, transportation, education and water projects. Today, the borrowing is beginning to pay off, one job at a time. A pot of bond money is now delivering road jobs in Santee in San Diego County, in Lincoln in the Sierra foothills and in Marysville in the Sacramento Valley.

The City Council has set into motion a road improvement program that would repair substandard streets but would cost homeowners as much as $90 a year in added property taxes. Of the city's 120 miles of streets, half are substandard, Councilman Steve Apodaca said. The plan approved by the council Wednesday would spend $4.3 million a year for roadwork, starting with the streets that are in the worst shape. Of that amount, residents would chip in $1.

On the same day that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proposed hiking the garbage fee to pay for more police, two Los Angeles councilmen called for a $1.5-billion bond measure to repave and repair 4,000 miles of city streets. The motion by Tony Cardenas and Greig Smith on Wednesday would put the bond measure before voters on the November ballot. If two-thirds of voters approve, it would raise property tax bills, on average, by $100 a year for 20 years.

Both lanes of a heavily traveled route in Yosemite National Park reopened at noon Friday, in time for the Memorial Day weekend. A quarter-mile section of roadway on the western side of the park, near the junction of El Portal and Big Oak Flat roads, had been eroded by the nearby Merced River and was in danger of collapsing. Workers have been repairing the road since December, causing periodic shutdowns and traffic delays. Most of the work has now been completed. -- Jason Song

A section of Laguna Beach's Bluebird Canyon neighborhood where 11 homes were destroyed in a landslide more than two years ago reopened Saturday. At noon, city officials presided over a ribbon-cutting ceremony welcoming traffic back onto repaved Flamingo Road. The rebuilding cost about $35 million and was funded through Measure A, a tax passed by voters after the June 1, 2005, landslide.