WILLITS BYPASS

POUR

JUNE / JULY / AUGUST 2015

CALIFORNIA FIRES - LCG FEASIBILITY STUDY - CABLE MEDIAN BARRIER - AND MORE...

LAST DECK POUR COMPLETED FOR WILLITS BYPASS VIADUCT

Revised August 2014 - Job 0146

MissionProvide a safe, sustainable, integrated and efficient transportation system

to enhance California’s economy and livability

VisionA performance-driven, transparent and accountable organization that values its people,

resources and partners, and meets new challenges through leadership, innovation and teamwork

GoalsSafety and Health

Provide a safe transportation system for workers and users, and

promote health through active transportation and reduced pollution in communities.

Stewardship and Efficiency

Money counts. Responsibly manage California’s transportation-related assets.

Sustainability, Livability and Economy

Make long-lasting, smart mobility decisions that improve the environment,

support a vibrant economy, and build communities, not sprawl.

System Performance

Utilize leadership, collaboration and strategic partnerships to develop an integrated

transportation system that provides reliable and accessible mobility for travelers.

Organizational Excellence

Be a national leader in delivering quality service through excellent

employee performance, public communication, and accountability.

SUMMER 2015

Last Chance Grade: U.S. Highway 101 in Del Norte County.

FEATURE

CALIFORNIA FIRESLightning sparks hundreds of

wildfires in Northern California, closing highways

PAGE 3

COVER STORY

WILLITS BYPASS POURContranctors finish last deck pour for Willits Bypass Viaduct during

extended overnight workPAGE 5

FEATURE

LCG FEASIBILITY STUDYProject team finishes initial study for

potential realignment of U.S. Highway 101 south of Crescent city

PAGE 11

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK Up to date information at facebook.com/CaltransD113 CABLE MEDIAN BARRIER 14 299 UPDATE 15 DIRECTORS CORNER 16 GRADITUDE FOR ATTITUDE 17 SAFETY SIDEBAR 17 TECH CORNER 18 CASTRO KEEPS CRABS FANS DANCING

19 STATE SERVICE AWARDS 20 STEWARDSHIP AND OVERSIGHT AGREEMENT 21 COPPER CROW CAFE OPENING 22 TMC 22 EXECUTIVE STAFF BBQ 23 STUDENT ASSISTANT AWARDED SCHOLARSHIP 24 DAY IN THE LIFE 25 CAUGHT ON THE JOB 26 OFF THE WALL

ON THE COVER Contractors work on the north end of the Willits Bypass viaduct prior to the final deck pour in late July. PHOTOGRAPH BY ELI ROHL

2

CALIFORNIAFIRES

The East Coast has hurricanes. The Midwest has tornadoes. California has fire season.

Years of drought and exceptionally warm temperatures have left the state vulnerable to large-scale wildland fires. Dry lightning storms have sparked hundreds of blazes, many of which have merged into huge complexes near the state high-way system in Districts 1 and 2.

The most notable of the fires still burning is the Rocky Fire Complex – a massive fire which started burning in Lake County and quickly grew to consume 69,000 acres. The fire burned right up against the shoulder of Route 20 before jumping the highway and scorch-ing the earth north of the roadway. Caltrans closed Route 20 – a ma-jor east-west corridor for travelers crossing between U.S. Highway 101 and Interstate 5 – for nearly a week. The Clearlake Oaks Maintenance crew staffed a 24/7 closure at the junction of Routes 20 and 53 with assistance from CHP and bonus supplies dropped off by fire crews.

Almost as soon as Cal Fire got a handle on the Rocky Fire, the Jerusalem Fire broke out in the Jerusalem Valley area near Route 29 – immediately to the south of the Rocky Fire. For-tunately, that fire is still miles away from the highways and appears to be burning into the areas charred by the Rocky Fire. Fire crews were immediately diverted from the Rocky Fire to make sure the Jerusalem Fire stays small.

Trinity County seems to be a magnet for fires as well: three large complexes sprung up near Route 36, Route 299, and Route 3. While all of these closures are in District 2’s juris-diction, they’ve impacted motorists in both districts.

The Mad River Complex has ravaged the area around Ruth Lake – a popular weekend recreation destination for Hum-boldt and Trinity County residents. Mandatory evacuation orders and a full closure of Route 36 at the county line were put in place when the fire started at the end of July and have been in place ever since. Firefighters are staging at a ranch near the lake and fighting to keep the fire at the north of the complex – the Pickett Fire – from jumping north of Route 36.

The Fork Complex, burning near Hayfork, has impact-ed Route 3 with hard and soft closures. The closure of this north-south corridor has cut off Route 36 from Route 299.

Also burning to the east is the Route Complex, which has been threatening Hyampom and other outlying communities in rural Trinity County to the South of Route 299.

The last fire in Trinity County is the River Complex, lo-cated to the east of Salyer and north of Burnt Ranch, which has caused fire officials to call for mandatory evacuations of Denny, Hoboken, Dailey Ranch, Bell Flat, and Quinby. The smoke from the complex is visible along the entire length of

the Trinity River – it’s become so thick that the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District has deemed it a public health haz-ard, and they encourage people passing through the area to limit their time outside. The fire is pres-ently burning a considerable dis-tance from the highway, and is not expected to necessitate a road clo-sure on Route 299.

Back in the north end of our District, the Gasquet Com-plex started a few miles north of the small town situated on U.S. Highway 199. Firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and partner agencies have been staging along the highway, sometimes resulting in extra congestion. “Traffic is busier than usual this summer anyway,” Idlewild Maintenance crew member Johnnie James said. “There are a lot of tourists on the road and they’re slowing down to look at this tent city that’s popped up around Gasquet.”

The Gasquet Complex is the smallest of the fires, and is also growing at the slowest rate – however, the remote loca-tions of individual fires makes it difficult for crews to contain the blazes.

Caltrans has been posting daily fire updates to its Face-book page at facebook.com/CaltransD1. Twice-daily reports containing the most up-to-date information from the U.S. Forest Service can be found at http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/, and information from Cal Fire can be found at http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/. •

BY ELI ROHL

A MASSIVE FIRE WHICH STARTED BURNING

IN LAKE COUNTY AND QUICKLY GREW TO CONSUME

69,000 ACRES

3

BY PHIL FRISBIE, JR

5 6

This season has been very productive at the Willits By-pass. The past mild winter weather has helped to ensure that by the end of this season all fill operations will be completed, all but one bridge will be structurally com-pleted, and most paving south of the viaduct will be completed.

Fill operations began a few weeks earlier than antici-pated and were essentially completed in August. At first, fill was concentrated at the north interchange next to where bridge foundations were to be built. Originally the foundations had been designed to be built on soil that had settled at least 300 days. However, Caltrans en-gineers reengineered the steel piles to be longer so that the settlement time could be reduced from 300 days down to only 30 days! This is reducing the two years of delays from various issues including permitting agencies to protests and lawsuits down to just one year.

Bridge construction has been advancing smoothly,

and the setback caused by January’s falsework collapse at Frame 1 of the viaduct has been minimal. By the end of June Frame 1 had been completed, and on July 23 the fi-nal deck pour at Frame 7 marked the final large concrete pour at the viaduct. With only some hinges, commonly called expansion joints, to be completed on the viaduct, it is on schedule to be structurally completed by the end of September.

From the south interchange to the south end of the viaduct, road base is being placed and paving will soon begin. Concrete barriers are also being installed along the edges of bridges at the south interchange and the viaduct.

By then end of this season, the bypass will be drivable (for official access only!) from the south interchange all the way to the north interchange. Next season the proj-ect will be in the final stretch, and the schedule is looking good for completion by November 2016. •

Productive Season at the Willits Bypass

Caltrans had always intended to avoid the use herbi-cides on the Willits Bypass Mitigation parcels. District 1 in particular is sensitive Mendocino County’s desire not to use herbicides along areas accessible to the pub-lic, or on other public lands.

There are many non-native invasive plants that have been introduced into the Little Lake Valley over the past century. One particularly pervasive plant, Himalayan blackberry, can take 5-7 years to control using only manual and mechanical methods, but can be controlled in 3-4 years with herbicides. The blackberries must be controlled before native plants can be established, oth-erwise they will choke out the natives. The removal on non-native plants and establishing natives is an import-ant part of our mitigation.

Due to tightened planting schedules, when the first mitigation contract went out to bid Caltrans included the use of herbicides in the specifications. Since that

time, the City of Willits and the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors both passed resolutions asking Caltrans to reconsider the use of herbicides. Local groups, previously opposed to the bypass project, refocused their efforts on the use of herbicides on the mitigation parcels.

Our contractor weighed the pros and cons of using herbicides versus manual/mechanical methods, the possibility of protests blocking the applications of her-bicide and putting the safety of the contractor’s employ-ees and protestors at risk. In the end, after consulting with Caltrans staff, they decided to go forward without the use of herbicides and revisit the need at a later date. •

Herbicide Use Tabled for Now

7 8

WILLITS BYPASSFLOODWAY VIADUCTBY THE NUMBERS

BAR REINFORCING STEEL

ARCHITECTURAL TEXTURE

STRUCTURE EXCAVATION

STRUCTURAL CONCRETE

MISCELLANEOUS METAL

6,256,719 lbs

8,267 ft2

154,749 ft3

620,055 ft3

46,821 lbs

https://youtu.be/9Bz2b5Mim7o

SCAN TO VIEW CALTRANS NEWSFLASH

(1.1 miles long)

10

Looking toward a future where a coastal four-mile stretch on U.S. Highway 101 south of Crescent City with active landslides will be re-routed, the Engineered Fea-sibility Study for Last Chance Grade was recently completed which reduced the number of considered alternatives from 14 to seven.

Now work is being done on a Project Study Report (PSR), which is scheduled to be completed in July of 2016. Once that is finished, Caltrans will have a better idea of the estimated costs of the project and will be able to request funding for the completion of environmental documents, designs, and ulti-mately construction.

In accordance with requirements set forth by environmen-tal law, the proposed construction of a Last Chance Grade al-ternative could begin in 2031 due to project study and design timelines. If there is a catastrophic failure of the roadway, all timelines are expected to accelerate.

Between this past January and April – a four month peri-od – there was a vertical drop and horizontal creep at Last Chance Grade that totaled approximately the same amount of movement of the previous two years.

A complete failure of Last Chance Grade could be devas-

tating – not only for the road-way, but also for communities on both sides of Last Chance Grade. Much of Del Norte County would be isolated and cut off from medical care, schooling, and other import-ant services. Also, the eco-nomic impacts would be dire; much of Del Norte County’s economy depends on tourists

visiting the redwood coast, but it’s expected that many people would pass over Del Norte County in favor of traveling fur-ther south along Interstate 5 and entering Humboldt County from the east instead.

District 1 continues to monitor the grade very closely. Cur-rently, Caltrans is evaluating options for installing a near-real-time monitoring system at Last Chance Grade that will issue alerts any time measurable movement is detected at the grade. By employing methods such as this, Caltrans is work-ing to ensure that Last Chance Grade is safe for motorists to travel on until a realignment can be constructed.

Project Manager Talitha Hodgson, Geotechnical Engineer June James, and Public Information Officer Eli Rohl recently coordinated a helicopter ride with the U.S. Coast Guard in order to view the area from above and capture aerial photos that are being used to measure slide activity at the grade. •

https://youtu.be/baIg0t-2xjc

SCAN TO SEE INTERVIEWW/ PROJECT MANAGER

BY MYLES COCHRANE

12

CABLE MEDIAN BARRIER

In June there was a collision at the site of the recently installed cable median barriers on U.S. High-way 101 in Arcata. Designed to reduce potential cross-median collisions, the barrier did just that as the driver who collided with it was able to walk away from the scene uninjured. More than 10 posts were bent to the ground, but maintenance crews were able to repair the the damaged structures effi-ciently and quickly – all within about 30 minutes of arriving on scene. In addition to their safety and maintenance upsides, cable median barriers have low visual and wildlife impacts. After installing the concrete foundations for the new barriers last fall, the project wrapped up at the end of June. •

https://youtu.be/27Snz_9ySH0

SCAN TO VIEW CALTRANS NEWSFLASH

UPDATEWe’re at the height of construction season! However, increased construction activity also means more traffic impacts – and that’s certainly the case along Route 299 to Redding.

Thirteen projects were slated for the 2015 construction season in Districts 1 & 2, with August and Septem-ber predicted to be the months with the highest number of concurrent traffic delays.

With 10 projects running simultaneously in the month of August, motorists could experience delays to-taling approximately two hours. Most of the delays are short – all but two of them are under 15 minutes. The largest delay motorists face heading in either direction on Route 299 is the Buckhorn Grade Improvement Project Capstone, which may have motorists waiting in queue for up to 45 minutes between 3 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Other projects between the two districts include a number of curve improvement projects, capital mainte-

nance projects, bridge rehabilitation, and the installation of ADA facilities and retaining walls.Caltrans is currently advising motorists to allow two to three hours of extra time to reach their destination

when traveling on Route 299 until the late fall, when many projects are expected to be completed. •

For more information follow our Route 299 Construction Updates event at facebook.com/CaltransD1

13 14

The summer is in full swing and warmer temperatures are upon us. Most of us who have lived on the north coast for a long time know our summers to be cool due to the thick fog bank frequently hugging the coastline. Not so far this year, but we are still in the midst of a significant drought. With that said, Caltrans will continue our efforts to conserve water. Changes are being implemented that will contribute to our efficient use of water and reduce our maintenance costs over the long term.

Past El-Nino weather like that which occurred in 1996/97 resulted in significant rainstorms, and this year there is strong indication of a powerful El-Nino event building offshore in the Pacific. While rainfall and snow will be a welcomed response to the drought, we need to be prepared for a prolonged winter storm season and be able to provide reliable mobility to travelers throughout the North Coast. On June 2 and 3, Caltrans staff and managers in District 1 participated in emergency response training sponsored by the Caltrans Office of Emergency Management, California Office of Emergency Services, and the Mineta Transportation Institute. The two days of training covered the Standard Emergency Management System (SEMS), Incident Command System (ICS), and Continuity of Operations / Continuation of Government Planning. It is important to recognize that we can experience events warranting an emergency response anytime of the year, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, significant wind storms, and heavy rain events. Right now we are managing the impacts of wildfires on our transportation system and surrounding communities.

By working together and staying fresh in emergency response procedures, we will ensure better communication between Caltrans and other emergency responders to quickly mobilize needed resources.

Unfortunately, July started out with the loss of a member of our Caltrans family, Oscar

Vargas. Oscar died early Tuesday morning on July 14, 2015, when he lost control of his Caltrans truck while working a nighttime project along Interstate 8 near Imperial County. Oscar, 54, was a 29-year veteran of Caltrans, most recently in District 11, Structures Construction

Division, as a Transportation Civil Engineer. Oscar’s willingness to share his extensive knowledge over

the years has helped to train many of our current bridge engineers, and he will be missed. Oscar is survived by his wife, Maria (Teresa), and his adult children, Oskar and Christian. To assist the family, a memorial fund was established through the California Transportation

Foundation (CTF). To contribute to this fund, please send a check or money

order, to the California Transportation Foundation, 581 La Sierra Drive, Sacramento, CA 95864. Please be sure to notate “Oscar Vargas” on the memo line. All donations received will be matched by CTF up to $5,000.

Tragic incidents such as this remind us that safety is our primary goal, and we must do all

we can to reduce the possibility of accidents and/or injuries in the field as well as in the

office. I care about you and ask that you make safety part of your daily life. Each one of us is needed to get the job done, and everyone must make the extra effort to look out for ourselves and

our co-workers to maintain a safe work environment. •

Thank you.

DIRECTOR’S CORNERWITH CHARLIE FIELDER

“Jaime Matteoli has worked for the District for less than two years,” District 1 Deputy Director of Planning Brad Mettam said of the perpetually happy and helpful project engineer, “but in that time, he has demonstrated a willingness and ability to get things done while always looking for ways to improve.” What better way to start a Gratitude for Attitude article?

Born in Eureka, Jaime is a lover of the North Coast. He met his wife Melanie right out of high school and he says it was love at first sight, “My wife is totally rad… she surprised me by singing me a love song during our wedding ceremony and had everyone in tears.” Melanie and Jaime have a 10-year-old daughter named Naomi who loves music, animals, art, swimming, fashion, and drama (just wait Jaime, she is almost a teenager!) and a 9-year-old son named Massimo who loves inventing things, computer programing, and playing outside. Both kids started archery this summer and have spent a lot of time in the back yard practicing the sport together. The Mat-teolis are all about family and spending time together, which might explain Jaime’s love for life.

After graduating from Humboldt State University in 2010 with a B.S. in Environmental Resource Engineering, Jaime took a job with the Department of Water Resources in Sacra-mento where he worked as a River Forecast Modeler but al-ways knew he wanted to be back in Humboldt. When the op-portunity came in September of 2013 to work for Caltrans in Eureka, he jumped at it. But Jaime says he didn’t always want to be a civil engineer and remembers different aspirations as a child. “The first thing I remember wanting to be was the Pope because of the cool pointy hat and the bullet-proof car. Then I found out that priests don’t get married - a deal break-er. I also remember wanting to be an artist, a rock musician, a comic strip author, and an architect.”

What tips does Jaime have for keeping a positive outlook all the time? “I don’t feel qualified to give advice on this,” Jaime started, “but I’m happy to share some of my beliefs. There is

a saying in computer modeling: ‘garbage in, garbage out.’ It’s true for humans too. Take in good stuff and avoid bad stuff. Think about what you watch, read, hear, eat, drink, think, say, and do. Avoid the news. Don’t gossip. Pull weeds. Another key is to not get caught up. It’s not personal. Embrace diffi-culties in the environment as a chance to improve. “

Kari Shoberg has worked with Jaime since day one. “He encourages the growth of his coworkers and uses his intel-ligence to think outside the box,” she said. “He is inquisitive and cares about doing a good job, looks for ways to improve processes, and is quick to understand both the micro and macro of the tasks at hand. Everyone gets along great with Jaime.”

Jaime is currently the acting PID Chief for District 1 (fill-ing the big shoes of recent retiree Ralph Martinelli), but with that role coming to an end, Jaime is excited to get back to his job in planning and hopes to find himself in project management in the future. It doesn’t matter what job he has - Jaime remains on course. “My focus now is on how I can become more valuable to the department. I want to increase my breadth and depth of experience in project delivery and I want to continue building my communication and leader-ship skills… I love that I am able to do good work and work with good people. My work has an impact on public safety, quality of life, and the environment.”

Jaime, we are happy to have you here in District 1 and we thank you for reminding us why we should all strive to have the same attitude you have every day. •

ratitudeAttitudegfor

BY BETSY TOTTEN

15 16

Now that we’re in the summer months up here in District 1, most of us are presented with a few more challenges from a technological standpoint than we are normally faced with during the winter. With sum-

mer, quite a lot of people are rotating out to remote offices, or just out in the field more than they usually are.

We want to make sure that everyone has what they need to do their jobs. This starts with making sure that everyone knows they have the ability to log into any Caltrans comput-er, statewide. As long as you know your username (your Cal-trans “S-Number”), your password, and your Novell context, you should have no issues logging into a PC in any remote lo-cation – even in another district or headquarters. Your Novell context is usually the division that you’re in (construction, admin, planning, etc.) If you need assistance determining your context, or logging into a PC that you don’t normally log into, please contact the D01 Help Desk.

Another challenge with the summer months is the PCs or laptops that are sometimes dormant in remote locations, unplugged and forgotten until someone needs to check their email or fill out their timesheet. While it’s best to leave your computer plugged into power and the network all the time so

that IT can provide security updates and patches as needed, we realize that this isn’t always happening, and not always possible. If you run across a PC or laptop that has obviously not been connected to the network in a while, please either hook it up, or alert IT so that our staff can get on top of any issues before they become major obstacles.

This happens quite a bit with “pool” laptops that typically go out into the field with users when they’ll need a computer away from their normal work area. Users should always plug their laptops in prior to leaving their office to make sure that all passwords are updated, and any potential security updates are applied while they have a stable connection. This will help alleviate any potential issues once a user gets into the field (it can be very frustrating if you get to your remote location, and find that you can’t even log into the laptop because it hasn’t been turned on in 6 months). •

To finish up, here are a couple of links that you may find useful:Check your state email from any computer, anywhere: http://mail.ces.ca.govAccess CTPass to complete your timesheet from any computer, anywhere: http://login.ctpass.dot.ca.gov

We are in the middle of the warmest time of the year, and ev-eryone needs to be aware of the causes and risks associated with heat illness. All employees that work in the field are required to have heat illness prevention training annually. Employees who are not used to working in

the heat shall be given time to acclimatize to working in hot weather. Acclimatization is defined in Chapter 23 of the Cal-trans Safety Manual as “the temporary adaptation of the body to work in the heat that occurs gradually when a person is ex-posed to it. Acclimatization peaks in most people within four

to fourteen days of regular work for at least two hours per day in the heat.” Employees should be aware of the personal risk factors for heat illness such as age, health, water/alcohol/caffeine consumption, use of prescription medications, and other physiological responses to heat.

Would you be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of heat illness if you or a coworker were experiencing them? The most common early symptoms of heat illness are excessive sweating, muscle spasms (called heat cramps), prickly heat (red bumps on the skin with a prickly sensation), irritability, mild dizziness, or weakness. Without proper hydration and rest periods in the shade, these symptoms can quickly turn into heat exhaustion or heat stroke, which require emergency medical attention. Be sure to plan ahead for working out-doors in the heat by having enough water on hand to sup-ply each employee with 1 quart per hour for the work shift and available shade (the blockage of direct sunlight) for cool down rest periods. For more information on heat illness pre-vention, please refer to Chapter 23- Heat Illness Prevention Program from the Caltrans Safety Manual.•

The safety manual can be found on the onramp at: http://hs.onramp.dot.ca.gov/safety-manual-online

If you’ve ever been to a Humboldt Crabs baseball game, you know about the Crab Grass Band. They’re the always-quirky, ever-distracting musical entertain-ment that plays at the home games at the Arcata Ballpark (and sometimes hits the road with the Crabs, too).

While everyone immediately recognizes the tunes – pop-culture songs abound in the Crab Grass repertoire, ranging from the Austin Powers theme to Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” and Outkast’s “Hey Ya” – you may not have recog-nized one of the band’s trumpet players.

North Area Planning’s John Castro has been a musician for about 14 years; a little more than three of those years have been spent playing the trumpet. He’s also known to pick up an alto sax, mellophone, and drums.

“I heard about the Crab Grass Band from Richard Mullen,” John recalled. “He’d noticed an HSU Trumpet Day sticker on my water bottle and asked if I played in the Crab Grass Band… It sounded fun, so I joined this past season.”

“My favorite part of playing in the band is the fun music,” he said. “It’s all fun to play. Also, the atmosphere of the Crab Grass Band is laid back and lots of fun.”

“The free admission and food is also a plus,” he added.While the Crabs baseball season has already come to a close, the Crab Grass

Band isn’t the only musical endeavor that John is involved with. “I’m always look-ing for other musical opportunities,” John said. •

CASTRO KEEPS CRABS FANS DANCING

Like us on facebookSearch: Caltrans District 1

www.facebook.com/CaltransD1

What’s up?Got story ideas

for the next newsletter?Is there something we should talk

about on social media?

Let us know!Contact the

District 1 Public Information Office at District.1.PIO@dot.ca.gov

TECHCORNER

WITH D01 I.T. - FRANK SHELLEY

Beat the Heat!

SAFETY SIDEBARWITH SAFETY OFFICER KATHY VIZGAUDIS

17 18

Whether you ride, walk, or drive…Share the Road, Arrive Alive!

Watch videos and see other traffic safety tips ArriveAliveNow.org

STATE SERVICE AWARDS

The District Office was paid a visit by top-lev-el transportation officials in late July. Caltrans Chief Deputy Director Kome Ajise and Federal Highway Administration Chief Operating Officer Mike Duman were present for an all-hands meeting with District employees to discuss important issues in transporta-tion – most notably the Federal Highway Stewardship and Oversight Agreement.

The Stewardship Oversight Agreement is a docu-ment that codifies the State’s assumption of FHWA’s responsibilities under Title 23 of the United States Code, which deals – naturally – with highways. It also addresses how the federal-aid highway program is ad-ministered in California.

Duman spoke about the positive impacts this has on the working relationship between Caltrans and FHWA; Duman said that FHWA is currently delegat-ing as much as they can to the State to allow Caltrans as much autonomy as possible, involving themselves only when absolutely necessary. The Stewardship and Oversight Agreement has no sunset clause – meaning it will remain in place until it is no longer effective or is changed so much that it can’t be considered to be the same agreement.

Ajise mentioned that California alone is allotted 10% of all federal highway funding – but the money comes with strings. Local programs submit to regular audits to prove the money is being well-spent; a bad audit could prove detrimental to a county’s federal transportation funding.

Ajise and Duman took questions from District em-ployees and spoke frankly about topics such as Fix It First and the state gas tax. •

201525 Years

Darin J. SullivanSusan A. TappanKevin M. DanelMark F. Sobota

30 YearsDonald S. Campbell

Al P. Ortiz

35 YearsKevin M. BalkeRussell Larsen

Mark A. LeonhardtJohn G. Maple

40 YearsDaniel L. Nalevanko

STEWARDSHIPAND

OVERSIGHTAGREEMENT

19 20

The Copper Crow Café is the latest addition to the District Office, and also the most recently renovated. The District 1 Facilities crew worked to update the third floor space to make it a bright, welcoming place to take a break (or even schedule a meeting – a set of accordion doors turns part of the cafete-ria into a meeting room). With the addition of the new café and resident cook Jessica Bostick-Lee, it’s also a great place to grab a bite to eat.

Jessica, the proprietor of the Copper Crow, keeps things fresh with daily specials that change regularly. Breakfast bur-ritos, bacon bleu cheeseburgers, and cream-cheese stuffed French toast are just some of the too-delicious dishes on offer upstairs.

“I’m only a couple weeks in, but I’m really enjoying myself,” Jessica said. “I’m excited to try out new recipes on you guys!”

In addition to the usual breakfast and lunch service, the Copper Crow is offering the option to cater meetings held in the cafeteria meeting room – prospective meeting organizers need only to call ahead and pre-order by dialing 6337 from any office phone.

With the cafeteria just a brisk jaunt up the stairs (or a very pleasant elevator ride), it’s worth it to grab a bite from the Copper Crow and have a seat in one of the new easy chairs to unwind on a break. Food service is available from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays. •

Copper Crow Cafe Opening

The move back into the District Office was a huge relief – and not just for those of us that worked out of the Humboldt Plaza. District 1’s Traffic Management Center (TMC) was relegated to a much smaller workspace at the Bracut Maintenance yard during the Fire, Life, and Safety project. Now our dispatchers are back in a facility that’s got leg room.

The TMC is the nexus for field communications in the Dis-trict. They maintain radio contact with maintenance units that may not have cell service, they update the California Highway Information Network and Caltrans Quickmaps with current information, they program Caltrans’ Changeable Message Signs, and they alert the rest of us to road and facility closures and incidents as they happen.

Caltrans Dispatcher Clerk Kathi Griepentrog is relieved to be in the new office. “We were in a converted storage room over there. It was probably from about here to… there?” she explained, gesturing from the corner of her desk to a point on

the wall not far away. “All you had to do was spin around in your seat to open the mini fridge, and even then, you couldn’t open it all the way. We called it ‘The Bunker.’”

“Now, we’ve got room to move around and stretch,” she added.

“Having CHP Dispatch right next door is nice, too,” Dis-patcher Clerk Hal Lowery said.

The updated TMC has room for all the screens and systems needed to help our dispatchers be as efficient as possible. The wall boasts several large, flat-panel monitors that show live feeds from our traffic cameras on routes throughout the Dis-trict. Several other screens on the desks display communica-tions software that help keep the dispatchers in touch with our maintenance forces and partner agencies.

“It’s a lot more modern,” Hal added. “It’s more professional, and we love that.” •

Executive Staff BBQ

TMC

District 1 staff enjoyed a summer bar-beque on Wednesday, June 3, in the equipment shop parking lot on Albee Street. The event was hosted by the Dis-trict executives and raised nearly $2,500 for the Caltrans Social Fund. Proceeds from the event serve as major contribu-tions to the Caltrans District 1 Partnered Scholarship and other fun or charitable activities. •

21 22

The Caltrans District 1 Partnered Scholarship – awarded every year by the Caltrans Social Fund and the California Transportation Founda-tion – is a $1,000 scholarship award-ed to a high school senior or a col-lege student who lives in District 1 and who plans to use their degree to work in the field of transportation.

This year, the scholarship was awarded to a familiar face at the Dis-trict Office – Maintenance Engineer-ing student assistant Gavin Keating was selected to put the $1,000 prize to good use. In previous years, the scholarship had been $500. However, due to the success of Caltrans Social Fund fund-raising events like the Executive BBQ, the award was doubled – something CSF hopes to continue doing in the future.

Keating has been attending California State University, Chico for his undergraduate degree in engineering. Besides maintaining at 3.6 GPA at CSU Chico, he’s helped bring home an intramural flag football championship and international commendations for his work in the Model United Nations.

“We did two competitions for Model UN. One was in Se-attle, and we were the top-performing school in that compe-tition. It was regional – mostly Pacific Northwest and a cou-ple schools from Canada. We got 16 of the 31 or 32 awards,” Keating said. “They wouldn’t let us get any more. Some team members were upset that they didn’t get awards until they learned that [the organizers] weren’t allowed to give us any more awards.”

In addition to his extra-curricular ac-tivities, Keating has made a point to give back to the Chico community while he’s been a student there.

“My fraternity and I would volunteer with this program called ‘IFC Adopt-A-Block.’ People like to party in Chico, and they throw their bottles and everything on the street, so it gets really messy real-ly quickly,” Keating explained. “We’d get up every Sunday at around 10 and walk around the downtown area with gloves and bags and we’d pick up all the trash.”

“We were also really involved with the Boys and Girls Club, we did a couple of beautification projects with them and we put on a volunteer dodgeball tourna-ment,” he added.

“I’ve worked in Maintenance Design. I started out working on quantities and once I got more familiar with projects, I

started working on plan sets – mostly for paving projects,” Keating said. “Last summer was the first time I was able

to go out on inspection. I worked on a chip seal and a cold in-place recycling project down in Lake County, so this has given me a good opportunity to see all aspects of what Cal-trans does.”

Keating will have about a six month gap between his grad-uation in December and the start of graduate school in the fall of 2016. During that time, he’s not sure where life will take him. “If I find a really good job opportunity, either here at Caltrans or in the private sector, I would see where it could take me,” Keating said. “I still want to go to grad school, but I don’t want to be broke and unemployed for the six months between graduation and post-grad work.”

Keating has a particular love for structures design, and wants to work as a structures engineer before moving to-wards a position in management. •

STUDENTASSISTANTAWARDEDSCHOLARSHIP

Tom Fridley is no stranger to the auto parts business. For the past six years, he’s worked in the District 1 Equipment Shop on Albee Street, where he currently serves as an Equipment Material Manager II.

“It’s basically equivalent to a parts manager position,” Tom ex-plained. His job entails ordering new parts for the equipment shop,

maintaining an inventory of fresh parts, and inventory con-trol. “I also control the inventory for the field shops in Cres-cent City, Willow Creek, Bracut, Fortuna, and Garberville,” he added.

“I worked as a parts manager at an auto dealership here in Eureka for 30 years before I started working at Caltrans,” he said.

Tom grew up in Eureka and attended Eureka High School, where he met his future wife, Grace. “We’ve been married for 40 years,” he beamed. Grace is his navigator on their motorcycle cruises – together, they’ve logged 100,000 miles on touring motorcycles. Currently, they’re riding a red-and-

black 1995 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide.His automotive pride and joy, however, is the purple 2010

Dodge Challenger that can occasionally be seen in the equip-ment shop parking lot.

“I had a 1970 Challenger and sold it – I really wished I hadn’t,” Tom said. “Grace and I saw the 2010 and we decided it was time to buy our car back.”

The car is truly his – he had it special ordered and delivered to the dealership with all the bells and whistles he wanted.

“On my way out of the showroom, I looked at the date of manufacture,” Tom recalled. “It was my birthday.” He loves the car so much, he’s got two of them; a miniature sits on his desk in the shop, along with a miniature Electra Glide.

Tom’s affinity for vehicles doesn’t stop on the ground – he earned his pilot’s license in the mid-1970’s, shortly after grad-uating high school. He doesn’t own a plane, though. “It’s way cheaper to just rent them,” he explained, laughing.

“I love everything about my job,” Tom said when asked to describe his favorite part of coming to work. “We’ve got a great crew to work with, and that makes things enjoyable.”

“I like doing what I’m comfortable with, and after 36 years, it all feels natural now.” •

DayLifein

the

23 24

Crescent City Maintenance staffed a road closure and played a part in the Every 15 Minutes program at Del Norte High School in late May. The program simulates a fatal traffic collision as a result of impaired driving to educate teens about the dangers of driving under the influence.

This semi also had trouble staying upright - it flopped over right at the Humboldt/Mendocino County line.

This photo came in from Clearlake Oaks and shows the plume of smoke from the Rocky Fire, which was burning near Route 20 in Lake County. The Rocky Fire has grown to approximately 69,000 acres, but is now almost completely contained.

Crescent City Maintenance makes repairs at Last Chance Grade in late April.

Contractors perform repair work on the Paul E. Mudgett Bridge, located on U.S. Highway 101 just north of Rio Dell. The bridge was struck by an oversized load in May and is currently closed for repairs.

CAUG

HT O

N TH

E JOB

: Mai

nten

ance

Phot

os

Off The Wall - Excerpts from Facebook

Brian Brown Buchanan - Thank you guys very much for all your hard work and long days and nights. Thank you for keeping our community safe. Bless you all. I could never say or do enough to show your teams how much they are appreciated by the communities they protect. (regarding Caltrans’ work near the fire complexes in and around District 1) Travis Hagen - Very honored that my tractors have

been used to construct this bypass! Thank you Cal Trans for honoring this Navy Seal! Thank you Flat Iron Constructors and DeSilva Gates for renting our excavators and dozers on this amazing project! Proud that California Compaction Equipment could be a part of it! (regarding the future dedication of the SO1 United States Navy (SEAL) Jesse D. Pittman Memorial Bridge at the Willits Bypass)

Salena Ray Dalerio - Thank god!! Thank you all!! Driving the 128>505>5 just to go back north on hwy 5 makes for a very long trip. Thank you again for the hard work!! (regarding the reopening of Route 20)

Randall Brown - A big thanks to Caltrans as well. You all work tirelessly doing whatever is needed. Much appreciated. (regarding Caltrans’ work near fires)

Edmund G. Brown Jr.GovernorState of California

Brian P. KelleySecretaryCalifornia State Stransportation Agency

Malcolm DoughertyCaltrans Director

Charlie FielderCaltrans District 1 Director

NEWSLETTER STAFF

Betsy TottenChiefPublic Information Office

Phil Frisbie, Jr.Public Information OfficerLake and Mendocino Counties

Myles CochranePublic Information OfficerHumboldt and Del Norte Counties

Eli RohlMultimedia Public Information Officer and Photographer

Jose MorenoGraphic Design

Caltrans District One

DELNORTE

HUMBOLDT

MENDOCINO

LAKE

25 26

Contractors from Flatiron West, Inc. start the final deck pourfor the Willits Bypass viaduct in the early hours of July 23, 2015

© 2015 California Department of Transportation