Cracks in 210 Planning Lead to Shaky Finish (Daily Bulletin 052807)

Cracks in 210 planning lead to shaky finish

Article Launched: 05/28/2007 07:41:47 PM PDT

Somehow, a major interstate that has been on the drawing board for 60 years now won't be really finished when it's finished, according to San Bernardino County's transportation agency.

Come to find out, when the 210 Freeway fully opens later this year, and the extension to Highway 30 in San Bernardino is finally finished (at a still undetermined date), access to and from another major artery running through the region will be severely limited - making the 210 less than the lifesaver for commuters it should have been.

But don't fret. San Bernardino Associated Governments, or Sanbag, reassures the public that the opening of the long-awaited interstate won't be delayed. You can count on that.

It's just that two major connectors between I-210 and Interstate 215, which would have stood to make the lives of motorists that much easier because of uninterrupted travel, won't be ready for yet another 3 to four years.

A geologist who was working in the area after the contract to build the freeway was awarded back in late 1999 or early 2000 just happened to notice a major problem that could, er, radically shake up freeway construction plans.

Seems two

presumably well-known earthquake faults, the San Andreas and San Jacinto, which have been in existence since long before the freeway was a sparkle in some engineer's eyes, might someday pose the danger of a fault rupture to any large piece of concrete in their vicinity.

"If the geologist hadn't seen it," said Sanbag's director of freeway construction, Darren Kettle, "(the freeway) might have been built like that."

So now, the agency has set about redesigning the elevated "flyovers" to compensate.

Thank heaven for accidents of mercy. But we would have thought that that, er, connection would have been made before then.

"The San Andreas Fault and San Jacinto Fault being so close to the freeway and the nature of the soils means those elevated columns would need to be designed to withstand the seismic problem that could be produced by those two faults," Kettle said.

Such major brainstorms can be awesome, when they come with the requisite amount of foresight. But in this case, it's more like shock, and after-shock.

While we're glad that extra precautions are being taken now that the potential danger has been noted, how is it that no one took into account the existence of the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults long before now - at least, in time to mitigate for the 210's final grand opening?

As it is, when the 210 officially opens later this fall, it will not be possible to go directly from the 210 east to the 215 Freeway south, nor will it be possible to go from the northbound 215 to the westbound 210.

Get ready for the delays
---------------------------------------------------------------------
BS Ranch Perspective:

Let me see, and Engineer that works for any of these planning outfits make a great deal of money, and they cannot figure out that they are in a seismic active area as the Inland Empire? The Inland Empire has only had an Earthquake every year in some cases two, and there has been a major quake, or what was considered to be a major quake within every 7 years.

Reading this article about the "Cracks" in the development, has raised a few questions of my own. Such as, if this has been in the planning stages for the last Sixty (60) Years then some one, did what? Planned it the Sixty years ago, and then they closed the file on it, and dusted it off when they started to decide to start the Construction on it.

Now that they are 89% done with the last portion of the 210 Extension that will complete stretch form Valencia to Redlands, it is now  that they come to the conclusions that they are going to be late finishing the Freeway?  This is so puzzling since they had so many opportunities to see the problems with the construction that they had already done and it is now that they find that it there is going to be delays, Even after the announcements that they were going to open it at the end of June, beginning of August!!

I am not happy, Especially being one that lives on the Detour that sends the Traffic Right in front of my house, until the figure out what they are going to do to finish this job.

SANBAG has stated that there will not be a delay, will you believe them? or the reality of what really happens??

BS Ranch

Meet 'Mac' Driver Extraordinaire (Daily Bulletin) 1 million accident-free miles qualify man to promote safety

Meet 'Mack,' safe truck driver extraordinaire
1 million accident-free miles qualify man to promote safety
By Jason Pesick, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 04/02/2007 12:00:00 AM PDT



Dellonzo 'Mack' McAdory, 39, of Rialto, who has been driving big trucks since 1989, stands in front of the truck he drives for FedEx on Monday March 26, 2007. McAdory recently joined an elite group of American Trucking Association drivers who have driven over a million miles without an accident.
(Brett Snow/Staff photographer) RIALTO - Driving on local freeways can be like playing a game of "Frogger," with irritated drivers darting between all the trucks.
But that's not how Dellonzo McAdory, or "Mack," views the trucks on the road. The 39-year-old trucker was recently named to an elite national group of 16 drivers who travel the country representing truck drivers and promoting safety.

"Can you imagine if we didn't have any trucks? Man, we'd be lost," McAdory said at the FedEx distribution center in Rialto, where he is based. Trucks bring us 89 percent of the goods we use, he said.

After driving 1 million miles without getting into an accident, McAdory was named to America's Road Team, an outreach group for the American Trucking Associations, in January.

Rialto may be known as a bedroom community, but south of the 10 Freeway is a growing cluster of transportation centers. The FedEx center McAdory runs his operation out of - he owns three trucks and is a contractor with FedEx - employs at least 1,000 people, said Jim Fleming, a senior manager at the facility. The parking lot was packed with white FedEx Ground trucks on a recent Monday morning.

McAdory said he has worked with FedEx for more than four years. Every

Wednesday morning, he and another driver, Craig Manigo, head out to Atlanta and return on Sunday by way of Sacramento.
They take turns driving for 11 hours and take 10-hour breaks. McAdory's truck has some basic creature comforts: a bunk bed and a refrigerator.

McAdory, who lives in Highland, doesn't get to see his two children, two stepchildren and his wife, Lamonica, as much as he'd like.

"Unfortunately, we just have to work," he said.

But his job has taken Mc-

Adory to all 48 contiguous states, he said.

"For me, it is like a road trip."

Even though he enjoys all the driving, McAdory did not make it 1 million accident-free miles without being incredibly safety- conscious.

During his first few months of the two-year stint with America's Road Team, he has already been to Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, touting safety to anyone who will listen.

"We're speaking about sharing the road with big truckers," he said.

Among his recommendations to drivers:

Pay attention to blind spots. If you cannot see a driver in his mirror, he cannot see you.

When passing a truck, make sure you can see its headlights in your rear-view mirror before moving back over.

Don't linger around the side of a big truck.

Stay at least 20 car lengths behind a big truck.

A truck can weigh up to 80,000 pounds when full and take the length of a football field to stop, he said.

McAdory is the fourth person from the FedEx hub in Rialto to make it on America's Road Team, said Fleming. That's a high honor considering Mc-

Adory is the only driver on the West Coast to be on the team right now.

After meeting McAdory, it's clear he has an unusual amount of enthusiasm for the art of driving. He said he studies different driving habits as he drives across the country every week.

When he retires, McAdory said he wants to buy an RV. He recommends that everyone take a road trip.

"We have some beautiful country," he said.

During his travels, he's made friends with people he meets along his route at different truck stops and by stopping at some of the same places on each trip.

McAdory enjoys driving, but he also sees trucking as important work.

"If there was no trucking, America would virtually come to a stop."



























Print Friendly View Email Article Return to Top


--
BS Ranch Perspective:

"Mac" is a great guy in my eyes, one of the guys that takes it easy and lays back on the freeway, when there is a large cog of traffic commonly known as a traffic jam, and the truck drivers lay back, and get a hug 500' gap between the front of their rigs and the rear of the car or truck in front of them. Comedians make fun of them because they say that they cannot figure out what or way they leave all that room there. But when you travel like a whole bunch of cattle in a cattle chute, you are going to rear end the Cow, in this case the car or truck, in front of you that stops short! So, having that 500 or so feet is not that bad of an idea. In fact it is pretty smart and It was learned and practiced by this typist often!

BS Ranch

Traffic Planning Changes Direction (Press-Enterprise032307)

Traffic planning changes direction

INLAND: A new focus is on unclogging north-south freeways and widening paths between counties.



Download story podcast



10:00 PM PDT on Friday, March 23, 2007

By PHIL PITCHFORD
The Press-Enterprise

Interstate 215 between Riverside and San Bernardino, once a cakewalk compared with the perpetually congested Highway 91, is now anything but. Much like on Interstate 15 between Corona and Ontario, traffic moving north and south begins slowing to a crawl in the late afternoon and remains maddening for hours.

"Fifteen years ago, unless there was an accident, there was no such thing as traffic coming to a stop on the 215, either north or south," Grand Terrace City Manager Tom Schwab said. "Now, it happens every day."

Transportation agencies in the Inland area are taking notice. After years of focusing on helping commuters drive east-west to employment centers outside Riverside and San Bernardino counties, planners are looking for more north-south traffic solutions within the Inland area.

The most recent effort involves developing ways for drivers to get from Moreno Valley to San Bernardino County without ever getting on Interstate 215. A recent round of state transportation funding also included money for north-south projects on Interstate 215 through Murrieta and through downtown San Bernardino.

One Riverside County supervisor, Bob Buster, is calling for a change in transportation priorities to reflect the needs of Inland-only commuting. He said too much attention has been given to getting San Bernardino County residents to Los Angeles County and Riverside County residents to Orange County.

"There hasn't been much, if any coordination between Riverside and San Bernardino counties," Buster said. "We need to come home here to the Inland Empire and invest here first. We need to shift gears."

Story continues below



Many of the area's north-south routes are becoming increasingly congested as a result of job growth in Corona, Ontario, Chino and Rancho Cucamonga. Those areas are generating more jobs than residents can fill, a phenomenon that did not exist anywhere in the Inland area a decade ago, said John Husing, an economist who studies the region.

As a result, those areas have become commuting destinations within Riverside and San Bernardino counties, much like Orange County was for the entire Inland region in decades past, Husing said.

"That internal commute (within the Inland area) over time is going to get more and more important, and that external commute is going to be less and less important," Husing said. "That is already starting to happen."

The question is whether the transportation agencies in the two Inland counties can work closely enough to clear potential traffic snarls before they reach a crisis point, Buster said.

"We should understand San Bernardino's perspectives, and they should understand ours, intimately," Buster said. "Without that, all the rest of what we hope for here is going to be seriously hamstrung."

In recent history, however, Riverside County has appeared more aligned with Orange County than San Bernardino County. The Riverside-Orange counties collaboration has been driven largely by worsening congestion on Highway 91, the main artery between them.

Elected representatives from the two counties meet several times a year to hash out potential solutions on Highway 91. Transportation agencies in the two counties lobby together, plan together and spend money together.

For example, during a recent meeting in Irvine in which the state doled out $4.5 billion in congestion-relief funds, Riverside and Orange counties worked to funnel money to Highway 91 on both sides of the county line. When the ploy worked, it was hugs and handshakes all around.

San Bernardino County officials worked mainly among themselves in an effort to bring home more money for Interstate 10. When their effort failed, they filed out of the room in silence while officials from Riverside and Orange counties celebrated.

The heads of the transportation agencies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties said that, despite recent events, they always have worked together on behalf of commuters who stay in the area. For example, they are trying to improve access between Moreno Valley and the Colton-Grand Terrace area.

Eric Haley, executive director of the Riverside County Transportation Commission, said his organization has worked closely with Orange County for about four years, since the two groups worked together to help Orange County buy the 91 Express Lanes from a private company.

But Riverside County's most important ally is San Bernardino County "today, tomorrow and 25 years from now," Haley said.

That cooperation is needed more now than ever, said Tony Grasso, executive director of San Bernardino Associated Governments. One project -- widening Interstate 215 between the 60/91/215 interchange and Interstate 10 -- would benefit from the kind of relationship that Riverside County has with Orange County.

"I don't think they (Riverside County officials) are looking for a different dance partner," Grasso said. "It's just that, right now, that (Highway 91 improvements) is the song that is playing. Hopefully they will dance with us when we get everything lined up on the 215."

Inland county Traffic

The number of vehicles moving within and between Riverside and San Bernardino counties on an average weekday continues to grow.

From San Bernardino

County to Riverside

County

32,804 in 1990

52,016 in 2000

97,961 in 2010*

99,231 in 2020*

113,752 in 2030*

Within San Bernardino

County

309,195 in 1990

456,568 in 2000

714,950 in 2010*

833,619 in 2020*

969,348 in 2030*

Within Riverside County

223,658 in 1990

417,137 in 2000

756,473 in 2010*

968,588 in 2020*

1,124,331 in 2030*

From Riverside County to

San Bernardino County

39,565 in 1990

60,412 in 2000

135,302 in 2010*

181,510 in 2020*

188,407 in 2030*

*Estimated

Source: Southern California Association of Governments



--
BS Ranch Perspective:

They need to come up with a Freeway system rather then Serface Streets that are the best way to travel. Right now Riverside Ave., Sierra Ave. in Rialto, and Fontana are so Conjested in the Morning and Afternoon from people commuting back and forth between Riverside County & San Bernardino County, just to manage the Freeway System. By to so, the Serface street of Riverside Ave, and Sierra Ave. Ceadar Ave all are so conjested in the afternoon, and Morning that it is not even funny it is down right a temper trap ready for someone to go off and start to shoot the fellow driver that is just as angry about their commute, that they are willing to die over the whole thing.

By coming up with a wide Street to travel on that filters into a narrowed City Street is a joke. Especially by the Growth figures that they are coming up with at the end of the story. There has to be a Freeway answer to the whole mess.

BS Ranch