Highway Improvement

Highway Improvement

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is proposing to improve a segment of highway by increasing the land width, adding paved shoulders and providing and unpaved catchment area next to the roadway. The project is located in Butte County approximately 40 miles northeast of Chico and one mile east of Soda Springs Road. The project site is located in mountainous terrain above 3,900 feet of elevation. The section of highway to be improved is a narrow through-cut with uphill slopes next to each side of the road. The travel lanes are 10 to 11 feet wide and the distance between the edge of pavement and the bottom of the uphill slope is as little as 2 feet in most places. This result in narrow lane width, no shoulders, and ice formation on the roadway and limited sight distance through the curve. Due to the lack of space between the road and the hillside, there is not enough room to allow maintenance crews the ability to perform standard debris removal and snowplow operations. In order to improve safety and ability to maintain the highway, the through cut between Post Miles 4.2 and 4.5 will be widened. Once completed, the new roadway will have 12-foot travel lanes and 2 foot paved shoulders. A 5 foot unimproved (dirt) catchment area will be provided adjacent to the shoulder to keep failing rock and debris from entering the roadway in addition to providing snow storage for snow plows during the winter season. Grading activities to widen the through-cut are expected to generate an excess of 1x800 cubic yards. Most of the excavation will take place along the northbound lane between PM 4.3 and 4.4, Selective tree removal will also take place in this area at the top of the slope. Thinning the strand of trees at the top of the slope will increase sun exposure on the highway and reduce the formation of ice on the road in the winter.

Tehama