Creative solutions abound for fixing deadly highway

It's not rocket science. The technology exists to fix deadly roadways like Highway 12. But up until now only Band-Aids have been placed on Blood Alley.

"Slow down" signs, plastic dividers and rumble strips dot the route, but offer little defense from lethal, head-on crashes.

Engineering experts, however, say there are many innovative ways to solve Highway 12's safety troubles. From building a causeway across the Delta to using lightweight Styrofoam-like blocks to support a widened highway, the ideas are out there.

"The issue is not constructibility," said Nicholas Sitar, professor of geotechnical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

Instead, garnering the political and financial support is the real challenge, he and several others said.

Polystyrene — commonly know by the brand name Styrofoam — can be molded into blocks and used as a lightweight fill underneath roadways. It's remarkably strong and provides support for pavement above. Importantly, it won't compress the soil below it, a big advantage along corridors like the Delta's Highway 12. (Marc Lutz/News-Sentinel)

"To me, the engineering aspect, in some ways, is almost the easiest," the professor added."Can it be done? Of course."

The Yolo Causeway — a model for a possible Highway 12 fix — has connected Sacramento to Davis for more than four decades, across a marshy flood plain. While it would likely cost hundreds of millions of dollars, the know-how to build a causeway has been around for centuries.

And if there's no state or local money right now, why not raise private funds? Turning Highway 12 into a private toll road, in fact, might be the way to go, according to the head of the region's transportation agency.

"We may talk about tolling the bridges," said Andy Chesley, executive director of the San Joaquin Council of Governments.

The highway has three bridges. They span the Sacramento and Mokelumne rivers and Potato Slough. Building a new, widened highway atop fortified, local levees is yet another creative idea, offered by Richard Prima, Lodi's public works chief.

"With money, anything is doable," Prima said."But I think it goes back to what you can afford to do."

Caltrans leaders say widening Highway 12 will be an expensive task, tangled with engineering and environmental challenges. The marshy soil shifts and sinks once pavement and cars are placed on top. But that's where the lightweight and surprisingly strong polystyrene blocks come in, Sitar noted. They can be used as a fill material that supports the highway, but does not compress the soil below.

Highway 12's small fixes:

Rumble strips. (Courtesy photo)

Rumble strips: These thin grooves on the highway's shoulders and centerlines cause a loud, blaring noise when car cross over them. They were recently added to the centerline of much of the highway just west of Lodi.
Plastic dividers: The tall yellow dividers were added this year to the centerline of several miles of the highway west of Rio Vista. They provide some sense of comfort for drivers, but little defense in head-on crashes.
Safety signs: Additional signs imploring drivers to 'Save Lives Not Minutes,' or 'Pass With Care,' were added earlier this year. New electronic message signs were also added.
Law enforcement: Hundreds of hours of additional patrols were added this year by the California Highway Patrol.

Innovative solutions for Highway 12:

Causeway. (Courtesy photo)

Causeway: A widened and elevated highway, much like the Yolo Causeway west of Sacramento, is one example of a big-scale fix for Highway 12. Pilings would be driven deep into the ground to create support for the roadway. This option would eliminate concerns over the unstable, soft topsoil on which the road is now built.
Polystyrene fill: The Styrofoam-like material is commonly used as fill under new highways. Blocks of the material have been used on everything from the approach to the new Benicia-Martinez bridge to the Big Dig project in downtown Boston.
Toll roads: Converting a California highway into a toll road is not unprecedented. Caltrans recently agreed to a toll road program in Orange County. A 10-mile stretch of express lanes on Route 91 — connecting Orange to Riverside and San Bernardino counties — is now operated by the California Private Transportation Company.
Highway/levee combination: Gov. Schwarzenegger has already shown strong support for rebuilding the state's levees. Why not rebuild Highway 12 atop a new, fortified levee along the Delta, asked Lodi's Public Works Director Richard Prima.

For John Anderson, a mechanical engineer who lives part-time in Isleton, the most frustrating thing about Highway 12 is that some of the solutions are"as common as nails."

He's contacted every state and local leader he can think of, imploring them to help build a concrete divider down the middle of the road. Barriers have been placed down deadly roadways from Vallejo's Highway 37 to Santa Cruz' Highway 17, making them safer stretches.

Anderson, who works for a Berkeley firm that designs and manufactures speakers, has gotten little reassurance that a barrier is coming to Highway 12 anytime soon. As a frequent Delta commuter, that makes his blood boil.

"Good highway engineering removes the option of (reckless and passing drivers) making these choices," he declared."You have to, unfortunately, take that option of people making stupid choices away from them."

Contact reporter Chris Nichols at chrisn@lodinews.com.

First published Oct. 29, 2007

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