Category Archives: Transportation

Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Transportation

CCHD Commissioners Drag Feet On Key Citizens Dock Project-Related Appointments; Project Grants Manager Says Work Won’t Slow

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Thumbnail photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Despite selecting a project manager and a grant manager for the Citizens Dock rebuild and seawall replacement last week, Crescent City Harbor commissioners delayed approving the contract that would allow them to start work.

CCHD Board Chairman Rick Shepherd asked his colleagues to wait until the district’s next regular meeting to consider the contracts between Kimley-Horn and Community System Solutions. 

At a special meeting Friday, Shepherd said he felt the public didn’t have sufficient time to review the proposed agreements. Though he and his colleagues decided to award the grant manager contract to Fair Oaks-based Community System Solutions, Shepherd still had questions about the firm’s role in the overall project.

“There’s still a gray area between grant manager and finance director and having another accountant in between that. That needs to be explained to me,” he said.

Continue reading CCHD Commissioners Drag Feet On Key Citizens Dock Project-Related Appointments; Project Grants Manager Says Work Won’t Slow →
Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Transportation

CCHD Board Fills Project, Grant Manager Roles For Citizens Dock, Seawall Endeavors

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Thumbnail photo by Jessica C. Andrews

Crescent City Harbor commissioners on Wednesday selected a project manager and a grant manager for the seawall replacement and Citizens Dock rebuild.

Instead of picking a firm to negotiate an agreement with, the Board unanimously voted to award the grant manager contract to Community System Solutions. The Fair Oaks-based nonprofit helped the Crescent City Harbor District obtain the two U.S. Maritime Administration Port Infrastructure awards paying for the project.

Commissioners also decided that Kimley-Horn should be the overall project manager, noting that while GHD’s proposal was impressive, it was too expensive. 

CCHD Board Chair Rick Shepherd and Vice Chair John Evans also noted that Kimley-Horn Principal-in-Charge Rob Sloop had been with Moffatt & Nichol, the architect firm that designed the seawall and Citizens Dock projects.

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Articles, Traffic, Transportation

Two-Vehicle Collision in Smith River Results In Overturned Semi

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of the California Highway Patrol

California Highway Patrol officers are investigating a two-vehicle collision that resulted in a tractor-trailer overturning on U.S. 101 in Smith River at about 4:05 p.m. Monday.

Dominic Russell Haseltine, of Brookings, was making a left turn onto the highway from Xaa-wan’-k’wvt RV Park when his Kia Sportage collided with a Babich Trucking semi tractor-trailer driven by Coos Bay resident Michael Craig Sanford. According to a CHP news release, the front of the tractor-trailer collided with the front of the Kia resulting in the semi overturning. Both drivers were taken to Sutter Coast Hospital with injuries, according to the release.

The collision is still under investigation. Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be a factor, the CHP reports. The Smith River Fire Protection District, CalFIRE and Del Norte Ambulance also responded to the scene. Those with information are asked to call the CHP’s Crescent City office at (707) 218-2000.

Articles, Environment, Transportation

Cleanup Continues A Week After Overturned Tanker Dumped Asphalt Binder On 199

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Caltrans District 1

State and federal agencies continue to oversee a cleanup effort involving liquid asphalt emulsion that spilled from a tanker that overturned on U.S. 199 about a week ago.

While it’s still unclear how much material entered the river, the cleanup has recovered about 3,778 pounds of asphalt emulsion, said Eric Laughlin, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response. Responders have not observed the asphalt emulsion one mile downstream from the incident, Laughlin told Redwood Voice Community News via email Thursday.

The 2016 Kenworth semi was hauling about 6,000 gallons of liquid asphalt emulsion on June 11 when the driver collided with the embankment and overturned at milepost marker 27.4 on U.S. 199 south of the Idlewild Caltrans Maintenance Station.

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Articles, CC Harbor, Infrastructure, Transportation

CCHD Commissioners Discuss Price With Firms Vying For Citizens Dock Project Manager Role

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The preferred alternative for the Citizens Dock reconstruction project. | Image courtesy of the Crescent City Harbor District

Thumbnail photo: The Crescent City Harbor seeks to replace a condemned seawall and the 70-plus year-old Citizens Dock using $15 million in federal grants. | Photo by Jessica Cejnar Andrews

Harbor Commissioner Gerhard Weber used the same analogy twice this week to describe his take on the three proposals from firms vying for the project manager role in the Citizens Dock reconstruction and seawall replacement.

“I think I walked into a Mercedes dealership with Kia money,” Weber told GHD Senior Planner Adam Wagschal on Wednesday when he found out that the firm’s cost estimate for pre-construction work would be about $4,000 shy of the Harbor District’s budget for the project manager position in general. “Maybe we made a major mistake with our budget because we have budgeted $350,000 and now we’re hearing that it gets us down for the first part, but not actual construction.”

Weber and his colleagues on the Crescent City Harbor District Board heard proposals from Kimley-Horn representatives on Monday and from GHD and Redstone Bridge Sovereign on Wednesday. All three firms have at least one person on staff that has worked with the Crescent City Harbor District in the past.

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Articles, Emergencies, Transportation

Rock Slide Closes South Fork Road, Blocks Big Flat, Boulder Creek Resident From 199

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Joe Gillespie

Above map courtesy of the Del Norte County Roads Division.

South Fork Road is closed until further notice due to a rockslide between the Rock Creek and Boulder Creek areas that occurred early Friday morning.

Joe Gillespie, who has lived in the Rock Creek subdivision for about 36 years, said the slide occurred at about 5 a.m. It’s less than half a mile upstream from his home and while his access to U.S. 199 is still open, he said Boulder Creek and Big Flat residents will need to take French Hill Road to get to the highway.

“That’s like an hour and a half detour,” Gillespie said of the county maintained road that drops down into Gasquet. “They do a pretty good job of keeping it open in case of situations like these.”

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Alerts, Articles, Environment, Transportation

Semi Hits Embankment Spills Asphalt Binder Into River; Driver Sustains Major Injuries

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Emergency crews responded to an overturned tanker that spilled some of its asphalt binder load into the Smith River early Thursday morning | Photos courtesy of Caltrans District 1

Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and other emergency personnel are responding to a tanker that overturned near Idlewild on U.S. 199 and spilled some of its contents into the Smith River early Thursday morning.

The driver, a Redding man, was hauling more than 6,000 gallons of asphalt binder in a 2016 Kenworth semi at about 3:40 a.m. when his vehicle left the lane, collided with the embankment and overturned, CHP Public Information Officer Pete Gonzalez told Redwood Voice Community News. The driver was transported to Sutter Coast Hospital with major injuries, Gonzalez said.

It’s currently unknown how much of the asphalt binder entered the Smith River, Gonzalez said.

The collision occurred about a mile south of the Idlewild Maintenance Station, Gonzalez said. The road is currently down to one-way controlled traffic, he told Redwood Voice at about 11:30 a.m. 

Articles, Infrastructure, Transportation

Del Norte Supervisors Extend Deadline On Line of Credit to Airport Authority For Wildlife Fence Project

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Thumbnail photo courtesy of Andrew Goff

County supervisors agreed to a year’s extension of the deadline on a line of credit they offered to the Border Coast Regional Airport Authority to replace roughly 1,800 feet of chainlink fence.

The fence project is in an environmentally and culturally sensitive area along the beachfront at Del Norte County Regional Airport, Director Sean Rosenthal told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. It’s needed to keep elk from getting onto the tarmac, he said.

“Right now we’re in the design phase and that should be approved any day,” he said. “And then we have to get a Coastal (Development) Permit. And, hopefully, we get all of our plant studies done in time for September construction.”

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Articles, Infrastructure, Local Government, Transportation

Paul Place To Get Attention This Year, Though Supervisors Decide Against Bringing It Into The County-Maintained Road System

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Thumbnail photo: Paul Place near Charm Lane and Old Mill Road was selected for repairs as part of an effort to ensure emergency vehicles have access to public roads that are not on the county-maintained road system.| Photo courtesy of Del Norte County

Del Norte County supervisors agreed to commit about $20,000 from the general fund to repair a ditch and grade Paul Place.

But they rejected a proposal to spend an additional $26,000 to pave the first 250 feet of Paul Place, adding it to the county’s network of maintained roads, despite County Engineer Jon Olson arguing that vehicles were tracking mud onto nearby Charm Lane and Old Mill Road. There’s also water puddling up onto Old Mill Road, which is damaging the asphalt, Olson said.

District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said Olson’s argument could be made for Napa or Lake streets, which impact Washington Boulevard. 

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Articles, Infrastructure, Transportation

Residents On 197/199 Corridor Call For Renewed Public Comment As Construction On STAA Project Looms

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Map courtesy of Caltrans District 1

Residents living in the Hiouchi, Gasquet and Patrick Creek areas say there hasn’t been enough public outreach to allay concerns about the long-awaited effort to bring State Route 197 and U.S. 199 up to federal trucking standards.

Caltrans is expecting to start bringing in equipment and putting up construction signs as early as May 11, 197/199 Safe STAA Access Project Manager Izzy Konopa told Redwood Voice Community News on Monday.

But Kiley Hudson, who purchased property in the Washington Flat area north of Patrick Creek Lodge with her partner James about a month ago, said the last time there was a significant public comment period on the project was in 2010.

“We just found out about this project they’ve been trying to push for 20 years,” Hudson said. “A lot of the community is either in the dark or they haven’t had the opportunity to express their concerns.”

Continue reading Residents On 197/199 Corridor Call For Renewed Public Comment As Construction On STAA Project Looms →