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The chorus of protests in response to Caltrans’ decision to detour big rigs through western Nevada County has become louder than the trucks’ Jake brakes that rattle the windows of area homes.
To counter the perception that the agency responsible for the Interstate 80 detour didn’t properly inform nearby residents of the noise and potential road hazards, Caltrans is hosting an informational meeting at 6 p.m. tonight at Nevada City Hall.
The meeting will inform residents of the reasons behind the detour.
While Caltrans held informational meetings early this year in Colfax and Auburn, a growing number of Nevada County public officials and residents have criticized the agency for not meeting in western Nevada County, where tractor-trailers clamber along winding, narrow highways
“Their objective was, they didn’t want us to know about it,” said Nevada City Vice Mayor Reinette Senum, a vocal critic of the detour.
Caltrans officials sent 35,000 letters to county residents informing them of February’s meeting in Colfax, District 3 Director Jody Jones said Tuesday. Few people showed up.
A meeting was set with the Nevada County Board of Supervisors before the detour started, but was canceled, Jones added.
A $70 million project to rebuild I-80 from Colfax to Secret Town is sending hundreds of big-rigs nightly onto highways 20 and 49. The detour began March 31 and is set to end in November.
The section of interstate hasn’t seen major repairs since it was first built to accommodate traffic for the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, Jones added.
The route is heavily traveled by trucks heading to and from Reno, a major distribution center for Northern California with massive warehouses for Walmart, Barnes and Noble and other companies.
“It’s the only east-west interstate crossing between Bakersfield and Portland,” Caltrans spokesman Mark Dinger said.
A section of roadway called the Colfax Narrows makes the repairs dangerous and the detour necessary, Dinger said. The Narrows are on a 6 percent grade north of Colfax with two 12-foot lanes in each direction and a 2-foot shoulder.
Space for Caltrans to work and frequent deliveries of materials make it impossible for traffic to pass by safely along the Narrows, and no viable alternate route exists, Dinger added.
An average of 500 rigs are using the detour nightly. More than 6,400 trucks used the detour during a 13-day period between April 12 and April 27, according to a Caltrans survey.
But thousands more trucks normally travel the stretch of interstate. Many truckers are adjusting their schedules to avoid the nighttime detour altogether, Dinger said.
“It behooves them to delay their travel out of the detour zone,” Dinger added.
Despite Caltrans’ precautions, more trucks are coming through than many residents are used to. Many say they never knew the trucks were going to roll through their neighborhood in the first place.
“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission,” Senum said. “They’re doing this detour because they want to save money, and as an elected official, it’s my duty to point this out. This detour is putting us at risk.”
Dinger said he realizes the agency should have made a better effort to inform Nevada County residents of the detour and its effects.
“It would have been a lot better to host that first meeting in Nevada County,” Dinger said. To that end, nearly 40,000 mailers have been sent to residents informing them of tonight’s meeting, which will include information booths and a chance for residents to offer written comments on the detour.
“We want to hear people’s concerns,” Dinger said.
Residents have proposed lowering the speed limit along highways 20 and 49 to reduce the risk of accidents.
It can’t, Dinger said. California laws regulate speed limits. A temporary speed reduction can be granted only in a construction zone; permanent changes require a survey studying actual speeds, he added.
Caltrans’ own draft construction communication plan lists several major potential problems with the detour, highlighted in a 12-page report. It asks for CHP input when trucks and passenger vehicles queue at the bottom of the westbound Highway 20 ramp. It also notes that signage will be difficult at the interchange of I-80 and Highway 20 and at the interchange of Highway 174 and Highway 49.
Resident Joan Moskowitz Lewin said Caltrans should have better informed residents before putting the detour in place and better gauged the risk for brake fires and other accidents.
Lewin lives on Lewis Road, one-eighth of a mile from Highway 20.
“Our number one concern is the danger of fire,” she said. When it’s still relatively cool, there’s less of a problem for brake fires. Come summer, when temperatures top 90 degrees, it’s a potential recipe for disaster.
“I feel bad for the truck drivers,” Lewin said. “I don’t even like driving down Highway 20 in a car.”
Lewin wondered whether every trucker on Highway 20 would have their brakes inspected as they’re supposed to.
During Caltrans’ 13-night survey, 106 trucks were taken off the road for safety reasons during the CHP brake check on I-80 before getting onto Highway 20.
Residents also complain about the smell of the truck brakes, coupled with the earth-rattling sound of the engine compression, or “Jake” brakes, to slow the trucks on downhill grades.
“It was like living over the subway in Times Square,” Lewin said. “I was astounded.”
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
To counter the perception that the agency responsible for the Interstate 80 detour didn’t properly inform nearby residents of the noise and potential road hazards, Caltrans is hosting an informational meeting at 6 p.m. tonight at Nevada City Hall.
The meeting will inform residents of the reasons behind the detour.
While Caltrans held informational meetings early this year in Colfax and Auburn, a growing number of Nevada County public officials and residents have criticized the agency for not meeting in western Nevada County, where tractor-trailers clamber along winding, narrow highways
“Their objective was, they didn’t want us to know about it,” said Nevada City Vice Mayor Reinette Senum, a vocal critic of the detour.
Caltrans officials sent 35,000 letters to county residents informing them of February’s meeting in Colfax, District 3 Director Jody Jones said Tuesday. Few people showed up.
A meeting was set with the Nevada County Board of Supervisors before the detour started, but was canceled, Jones added.
A $70 million project to rebuild I-80 from Colfax to Secret Town is sending hundreds of big-rigs nightly onto highways 20 and 49. The detour began March 31 and is set to end in November.
The section of interstate hasn’t seen major repairs since it was first built to accommodate traffic for the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, Jones added.
The route is heavily traveled by trucks heading to and from Reno, a major distribution center for Northern California with massive warehouses for Walmart, Barnes and Noble and other companies.
“It’s the only east-west interstate crossing between Bakersfield and Portland,” Caltrans spokesman Mark Dinger said.
A section of roadway called the Colfax Narrows makes the repairs dangerous and the detour necessary, Dinger said. The Narrows are on a 6 percent grade north of Colfax with two 12-foot lanes in each direction and a 2-foot shoulder.
Space for Caltrans to work and frequent deliveries of materials make it impossible for traffic to pass by safely along the Narrows, and no viable alternate route exists, Dinger added.
An average of 500 rigs are using the detour nightly. More than 6,400 trucks used the detour during a 13-day period between April 12 and April 27, according to a Caltrans survey.
But thousands more trucks normally travel the stretch of interstate. Many truckers are adjusting their schedules to avoid the nighttime detour altogether, Dinger said.
“It behooves them to delay their travel out of the detour zone,” Dinger added.
Despite Caltrans’ precautions, more trucks are coming through than many residents are used to. Many say they never knew the trucks were going to roll through their neighborhood in the first place.
“It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission,” Senum said. “They’re doing this detour because they want to save money, and as an elected official, it’s my duty to point this out. This detour is putting us at risk.”
Dinger said he realizes the agency should have made a better effort to inform Nevada County residents of the detour and its effects.
“It would have been a lot better to host that first meeting in Nevada County,” Dinger said. To that end, nearly 40,000 mailers have been sent to residents informing them of tonight’s meeting, which will include information booths and a chance for residents to offer written comments on the detour.
“We want to hear people’s concerns,” Dinger said.
Residents have proposed lowering the speed limit along highways 20 and 49 to reduce the risk of accidents.
It can’t, Dinger said. California laws regulate speed limits. A temporary speed reduction can be granted only in a construction zone; permanent changes require a survey studying actual speeds, he added.
Caltrans’ own draft construction communication plan lists several major potential problems with the detour, highlighted in a 12-page report. It asks for CHP input when trucks and passenger vehicles queue at the bottom of the westbound Highway 20 ramp. It also notes that signage will be difficult at the interchange of I-80 and Highway 20 and at the interchange of Highway 174 and Highway 49.
Resident Joan Moskowitz Lewin said Caltrans should have better informed residents before putting the detour in place and better gauged the risk for brake fires and other accidents.
Lewin lives on Lewis Road, one-eighth of a mile from Highway 20.
“Our number one concern is the danger of fire,” she said. When it’s still relatively cool, there’s less of a problem for brake fires. Come summer, when temperatures top 90 degrees, it’s a potential recipe for disaster.
“I feel bad for the truck drivers,” Lewin said. “I don’t even like driving down Highway 20 in a car.”
Lewin wondered whether every trucker on Highway 20 would have their brakes inspected as they’re supposed to.
During Caltrans’ 13-night survey, 106 trucks were taken off the road for safety reasons during the CHP brake check on I-80 before getting onto Highway 20.
Residents also complain about the smell of the truck brakes, coupled with the earth-rattling sound of the engine compression, or “Jake” brakes, to slow the trucks on downhill grades.
“It was like living over the subway in Times Square,” Lewin said. “I was astounded.”
To contact Staff Writer David Mirhadi, e-mail dmirhadi@theunion.com or call 477-4239.
