California Department of Transportation

Last updated
California Department of Transportation
Caltrans.svg
Agency overview
Formed1972;52 years ago (1972)
Preceding agencies
  • California Bureau of Highways
  • California Department of Highways
Jurisdiction California State Government
Headquarters1120 N Street, Sacramento, California
38°34′28″N121°29′37″W / 38.574564°N 121.493660°W / 38.574564; -121.493660
Employees19,887 (Sep 2020)
Annual budget$17 billion (2021) [1]
Agency executive
  • Tony Tavares, Director
Parent agency California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA)
Key document
Website dot.ca.gov OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Footnotes
[2] [3] [4]

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is an executive department of the U.S. state of California. The department is part of the cabinet-level California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA). Caltrans is headquartered in Sacramento. [5]

Contents

Caltrans manages the state's highway system, which includes the California Freeway and Expressway System, supports public transportation systems throughout the state and provides funding and oversight for three state-supported Amtrak intercity rail routes ( Capitol Corridor , Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquins ) which are collectively branded as Amtrak California .

In 2015, Caltrans released a new mission statement: "Provide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system to enhance California's economy and livability." [6]

History

Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in Los Angeles, designed by Thom Mayne. Cal Trans District7 HD.jpg
Caltrans District 7 Headquarters in Los Angeles, designed by Thom Mayne.
Caltrans District 8 Headquarters in San Bernardino Sb dt state 001a.jpg
Caltrans District 8 Headquarters in San Bernardino
Caltrans headquarters in Sacramento 1120 N Street.jpg
Caltrans headquarters in Sacramento

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. [7] This agency consisted of three commissioners who were charged with analyzing the roads of the state and making recommendations for their improvement. At the time, there was no state highway system, since roads were purely a local responsibility. California's roads consisted of crude dirt roads maintained by county governments, as well as some paved streets in certain cities, and this ad hoc system was no longer adequate for the needs of the state's rapidly growing population. After the commissioners submitted their report to the governor on November 25, 1896, the legislature replaced the Bureau with the Department of Highways. [8]

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. [7] California voters approved an $18 million bond issue for the construction of a state highway system in 1910, and the first California Highway Commission was convened in 1911. [7] 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, which later became part of California State Route 82. [9] The year 1912 also saw the founding of the Transportation Laboratory and the creation of seven administrative divisions, which are the predecessors of the 12 district offices in use as of 2018. [8] The original seven division headquarters were located in: [10]

In 1913, the California State Legislature began requiring vehicle registration and allocated the resulting funds to support regular highway maintenance, which began the next year. [9]

In 1921, the state legislature turned the Department of Engineering into the Department of Public Works, which continued to have a Division of Highways. [11] That same year, three additional divisions (now districts) were created, in Stockton, Bishop, and San Bernardino. [11]

In 1933, the state legislature enacted an amendment to the State Highway Classification Act of 1927, which added over 6,700 miles of county roads to the state highway system. [11] To help manage all the additional work created by this massive expansion, an eleventh district office was founded that year in San Diego. [11]

The enactment of the Collier–Burns Highway Act of 1947 after "a lengthy and bitter legislative battle" was a watershed moment in Caltrans history. [12] The act "placed California highway's program on a sound financial basis" by doubling vehicle registration fees and raising gasoline and diesel fuel taxes from 3 cents to 4.5 cents per gallon. All these taxes were again raised further in 1953 and 1963. [12] The state also obtained extensive federal funding from the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 for the construction of its portion of the Interstate Highway System. [13] Over the next two decades after Collier-Burns, the state "embarked on a massive highway construction program" in which nearly all of the now-extant state highway system was either constructed or upgraded. [13] In hindsight, the period from 1940 to 1969 can be characterized as the "Golden Age" of California's state highway construction program. [14]

The history of Caltrans and its predecessor agencies during the 20th century was marked by many firsts. It was one of the first agencies in the United States to paint centerlines on highways statewide; the first to build a freeway west of the Mississippi River; the first to build a four-level stack interchange; the first to develop and deploy non-reflective raised pavement markers, better known as Botts' dots; and one of the first to implement dedicated freeway-to-freeway connector ramps for high-occupancy vehicle lanes.

In 1967, Governor Ronald Reagan formed a Task Force Committee on Transportation to study the state transportation system and recommend major reforms. One of the proposals of the task force was the creation of a State Transportation Board as a permanent advisory board on state transportation policy; the board would later merge into the California Transportation Commission in 1978. In September 1971, the State Transportation Board proposed the creation of a state department of transportation charged with responsibility "for performing and integrating transportation planning for all modes." Governor Reagan mentioned this proposal in his 1972 State of the State address, and Assemblyman Wadie P. Deddeh introduced Assembly Bill 69 to that effect, which was duly passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Reagan later that same year. AB 69 merged three existing departments to create the Department of Transportation, of which the most important was the Department of Public Works and its Division of Highways. The California Department of Transportation began official operations on July 1, 1973. [15] The new agency was organized into six divisions: Highways, Mass Transportation, Aeronautics, Transportation Planning, Legal, and Administrative Services. [16]

Caltrans went through a difficult period of transformation during the 1970s, as its institutional focus shifted from highway construction to highway maintenance. [17] The agency was forced to contend with declining revenues, increasing construction and maintenance costs (especially the skyrocketing cost of maintaining the vast highway system built over the past three prior decades), widespread freeway revolts, and new environmental laws. [17] In 1970, the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act and the California Environmental Quality Act forced Caltrans to devote significant time, money, people, and other resources to confronting issues such as "air and water quality, hazardous waste, archaeology, historic preservation, and noise abatement." [16] The devastating 1971 San Fernando earthquake compelled the agency to recognize that its existing design standards had not adequately accounted for earthquake stress and that numerous existing structures needed expensive seismic retrofitting. [18] Maintenance and construction costs grew at twice the inflation rate in this era of high inflation; the reluctance of one governor after another to raise fuel taxes in accordance with inflation meant that California ranked dead last in the United States in per capita transportation spending by 1983. [18] During the 1980s and 1990s, Caltrans concentrated on "the upgrading, rehabilitation, and maintenance of the existing system," plus occasional gap closure and realignment projects. [18]

In 2023, Caltrans demoted one of its top officials, Jeanie Ward-Waller, because she objected to highway expansions and alleged that permits for those expansions improperly understated their adverse environmental impact. [19]

Administration

For administrative purposes, Caltrans divides 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 by population are District 4 (San Francisco Bay Area) and District 7 (Los Angeles and Ventura counties). Like many state agencies, Caltrans maintains its headquarters in Sacramento, which is covered by District 3.

Districts

Caltrans district map CalTrans District Map.svg
Caltrans district map
District [20] Area (Counties)Headquarters
1Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino Eureka
2Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity; portions of Butte and Sierra Redding
3Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba Marysville
4Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Oakland
5Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz San Luis Obispo
6Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Kern Fresno
7 Los Angeles, Ventura Los Angeles
8Riverside, San Bernardino San Bernardino
9Inyo, Mono Bishop
10Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tuolumne Stockton
11Imperial, San Diego San Diego
12Orange Santa Ana [21]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Willits was the northernmost California Coast Range city connected to the national rail network when the headquarters were established there.
  2. ↑ The Forsythe Building was shared with the original Gottschalks department store.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 22</span> Highway in Los Angeles and Orange counties in California, United States

State Route 22 is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves southern Los Angeles County and northern Orange County. It runs between Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach and the Costa Mesa Freeway in Orange by way of Garden Grove. The westernmost part of SR 22 runs along Long Beach's 7th Street. From West Garden Grove to its eastern terminus in Orange, it is known as the Garden Grove Freeway. It is one of the two principal east–west routes in Orange County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 280 (California)</span> Interstate highway in California

Interstate 280 (I-280) is a 57.22-mile-long (92.09 km) major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It runs from I-680 and US Route 101 (US 101) in San Jose to King and 5th streets in San Francisco, running just to the west of the larger cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 110 and State Route 110 (California)</span> Interstate and state highway in California

Route 110, consisting of State Route 110 (SR 110) and Interstate 110 (I-110), is a state and auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of the US state of California. The entire route connects San Pedro and the Port of Los Angeles with Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena. The southern segment from San Pedro to I-10 in downtown Los Angeles is signed as I-110, while the northern segment to Pasadena is signed as SR 110. The entire length of I-110, as well as SR 110 south of the Four Level Interchange with US Route 101 (US 101), is the Harbor Freeway, and SR 110 north from US 101 to Pasadena is the historic Arroyo Seco Parkway, the first freeway in the western United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 133</span> Highway in California

State Route 133 (SR 133) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, serving as an urban route in Orange County. It connects SR 1 in Laguna Beach through the San Joaquin Hills with several freeways in Irvine, ending at the SR 241, a toll road in the latter city. It is built as an expressway from SR 73 to Laguna Canyon Road, and past this, SR 133 is a freeway to I-5, and a tollway to SR 241 near the Santa Ana Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 57</span> Highway in California

State Route 57 (SR 57), also known as the Orange Freeway for most of its length, is a north–south state highway in the Greater Los Angeles Area of the U.S. state of California. It connects the interchange of Interstate 5 (I-5) and SR 22 near downtown Orange, locally known as the Orange Crush, to the Glendora Curve interchange with I-210 and SR 210 in Glendora. The highway provides a route across several spurs of the Peninsular Ranges, linking the Los Angeles Basin with the Pomona Valley and San Gabriel Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Ana Freeway</span> Highway in California

The Santa Ana Freeway is one of the principal freeways in Southern California, connecting Los Angeles and its southeastern suburbs including the freeway's namesake, the city of Santa Ana. The freeway begins at its junction with the San Diego Freeway, called the El Toro Y, in Irvine, signed as I-5. From there, it generally goes southeast to northwest to the East Los Angeles Interchange, where it takes the designation of U.S. Route 101 (US 101). It then proceeds 2.95 miles (4.75 km) northwest to the Four Level Interchange in downtown Los Angeles. Formerly, the entirety of the route was marked as US 101 until the 1964 highway renumbering, which truncated US 101 to the East Los Angeles Interchange and designated the rest of the freeway as I-5.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 58</span> Major state highway in California

State Route 58 is a major east-west state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs across the Coast Ranges, the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains, which border the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Mojave Desert. It runs between U.S. Route 101 near Santa Margarita and Interstate 15 in Barstow. It has junctions with Interstate 5 near Buttonwillow, State Route 99 in Bakersfield, State Route 202 in Tehachapi, State Route 14 near Mojave, and U.S. Route 395 at Kramer Junction. SR 58 also provides access to Edwards Air Force Base. At various points it is known as the Calf Canyon Highway, Carrisa Highway, Bakersfield-McKittrick Highway, Rosa Parks Highway, Westside Parkway, Barstow-Bakersfield Highway, Bakersfield Tehachapi Highway, Kern County Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, and Mojave-Barstow Highway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 99</span> State highway in California, United States

State Route 99 (SR 99) is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California, stretching almost the entire length of the Central Valley. From its southern end at Interstate 5 (I-5) near Wheeler Ridge to its northern end at SR 36 near Red Bluff, SR 99 goes through the densely populated eastern parts of the valley. Cities served include Bakersfield, Delano, Tulare, Visalia, Fresno, Madera, Merced, Turlock, Modesto, Manteca, Stockton, Sacramento, Yuba City, and Chico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 160</span> Highway in California

State Route 160 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California consisting of two sections. The longer, southern, section is a scenic highway through the alluvial plain of the Sacramento River, linking SR 4 in Antioch with Sacramento via the Antioch Bridge. The northern section, separated from the southern by Sacramento city streets, is the North Sacramento Freeway, running from the 16th Street Bridge over the American River to Interstate 80 Business towards Roseville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 125</span> Highway in California

State Route 125 (SR 125) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves as a north–south freeway in the San Diego area. It runs from SR 11 and SR 905 in Otay Mesa, near the Mexican border, to SR 52 in Santee. SR 125 also connects SR 54, SR 94, and I-8.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 67</span> Highway in California

State Route 67 (SR 67) is a state highway in San Diego County, California, United States. It begins at Interstate 8 (I-8) in El Cajon and continues to Lakeside as the San Vicente Freeway before becoming an undivided highway through the eastern part of Poway. In the town of Ramona, the route turns into Main Street before ending at SR 78. SR 67 provides direct access from the city of San Diego to the East County region of San Diego County, including Ramona and Julian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 73</span> Highway and toll road in Orange County, California

State Route 73 (SR 73) is an approximately 17.76-mile (28.58 km) state highway in Orange County, California. The southernmost 12 miles (19.31 km) of the highway is a toll road operated by the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency named the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor, which opened in November 1996. The northernmost 5.76 miles (9.27 km) of the highway, which opened in 1978, is part of the Corona del Mar Freeway. SR 73's southern terminus is at Interstate 5 (I-5) near the San Juan Capistrano–Mission Viejo–Laguna Niguel tripoint. Its northern terminus is at Interstate 405 (I-405) in Costa Mesa. The highway's alignment through the San Joaquin Hills follows an approximately parallel path between the Pacific Coast Highway and I-405. Currently, there are no HOV lanes for the three-mile freeway segment, but the medians have been designed with sufficient clearance for their construction should the need arise in the future.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 7</span> State highway in Imperial County, California, United States

State Route 7 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, running from the Calexico East Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border east of Calexico north to its terminus at Interstate 8 (I-8), where Orchard Road continues the route north towards Holtville. The route provides convenient access to the country of Mexico from I-8. The southern portion of the route opened in 1996, and the rest of the route connecting to I-8 opened in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 94</span> Highway in California

State Route 94 (SR 94) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that is 63.324 miles (101.910 km) long. The western portion, known as the Martin Luther King Jr. Freeway, begins at Interstate 5 (I-5) in Downtown San Diego and continues to the end of the freeway portion past SR 125 in Spring Valley. The non-freeway segment of SR 94 that continues east through the mountains to I-8 near Boulevard is known as Campo Road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 54</span> Highway in California

State Route 54 (SR 54) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that consists of two segments in San Diego County. The westernmost part of the highway is known as the South Bay Freeway, beginning at Interstate 5 (I-5) in National City and running along the Sweetwater River before ending at the intersection with SR 125 and Jamacha Boulevard near Spring Valley. SR 54 then resumes at SR 94 in Rancho San Diego as an undivided highway that leads to the city limits of El Cajon. County Route S17 (CR S17) connects the two portions of the highway; the center portion of SR 54 was never constructed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 62</span> Highway in California

State Route 62 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that cuts across the Little San Bernardino Mountains in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Its western terminus is at Interstate 10 in unincorporated Riverside County outside the borders of Whitewater and Palm Springs. Its eastern terminus is at the Arizona state line just east of Parker, Arizona. The highway passes through the city of Twentynine Palms and along the northern boundary of the Joshua Tree National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State Route 180</span> Highway in California

State Route 180 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. It runs through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley from State Route 33 in Mendota through Fresno, and then east towards the Sierra Nevada to Kings Canyon National Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstate 80 in California</span> Section of Interstate Highway in California, United States

Interstate 80 (I-80) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The segment of I-80 in California runs east from San Francisco across the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge to Oakland, where it turns north and crosses the Carquinez Bridge before turning back northeast through the Sacramento Valley. I-80 then traverses the Sierra Nevada, cresting at Donner Summit, before crossing into the state of Nevada within the Truckee River Canyon. The speed limit is at most 65 mph (105 km/h) along the entire route instead of the state's maximum of 70 mph (110 km/h) as most of the route is in either urban areas or mountainous terrain. I-80 has portions designated as the Eastshore Freeway and Alan S. Hart Freeway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transportation in California</span> Overview of the transport in the State of California

California's transportation system is complex and dynamic. Although known for its car culture and extensive network of freeways and roads, the state also has a vast array of rail, sea, and air transport. Several subway, light rail, and commuter rail networks are found in many of the state's largest population centers. In addition, with the state's location on the West Coast of the United States, several important ports in California handle freight shipments from the Pacific Rim and beyond. A number of airports are also spread out across the state, ranging from small general aviation airports to large international hubs like Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of California's state highway system</span>

The state highway system in the U.S. state of California dates back to 1896, when the state took over maintenance of the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road. Before then, roads and streets were managed exclusively by local governments. Construction of a statewide highway system began in 1912, after the state's voters approved an $18 million bond issue for over 3,000 miles (4,800 km) of highways. The last large addition was made by the California State Assembly in 1959, after which only minor changes have been made.

References

  1. ↑ "Budget and Policy: 2021-22 California Spending Plan".
  2. ↑ "Caltrans Executive Fact Book" (PDF). June 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-09-15.
  3. ↑ Taylor, Mac. "The 2016–17 Budget Transportation Proposals" (PDF). Legislative Analyst's Office. Legislative Analyst's Office of California. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-10-05. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  4. ↑ "State of California Department of Transportation February 2018 Organization Chart" (PDF). Caltrans. February 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "Caltrans Mail Addresses." California Department of Transportation. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Caltrans Mission, Vision, Goals & Values". Caltrans. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
  7. 1 2 3 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 11.
  8. 1 2 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 12.
  9. 1 2 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 13.
  10. ↑ Ellis, W.R. (1913). "Division Engineers – Office Addresses". California Highway Bulletin. 1 (2). California Highway Commission: 2&3.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 32.
  12. 1 2 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 72.
  13. 1 2 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 73.
  14. ↑ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 74.
  15. ↑ Karner, Alex (June 2013). "Multimodal dreamin': California transportation planning, 1967–77". The Journal of Transport History. 34 (1): 39–56. doi:10.7227/TJTH.34.1.4. S2CID   108503981. Available through ProQuest.
  16. 1 2 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 128.
  17. 1 2 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 127.
  18. 1 2 3 Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 129.
  19. ↑ Kahn, Debra (2023-10-03). "Caltrans official says she was demoted for objecting to highway expansion". POLITICO.
  20. ↑ "Caltrans District Offices". California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original on 2010-02-11. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  21. ↑ "News Release D12 Move to Santa Ana October 2016 (PDF)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.