California Department of Transportation

Peninsula Dining Update: New Coastal Restaurants, a Hofbrau, and Pizza in Palo Alto

Just in time for the summer beach season, a few new destinations have opened up along the coast. In Pacifica, the 140-seat Puerto 27 is now open inside the Pacifica Beach Hotel. The Peruvian-style cuisine comes courtesy of Jose Calvo-Perez, most recently of Pasion in San Francisco's Sunset District. ... More >>

Pedestrian Killed by Caltrain, Expect Commuting Delays

An unidentified pedestrian was hit and killed by a southbound Caltrain this morning. According to Caltrain, the incident happened at about 5:20 a.m. when the #102 train struck a person who was on the tracks between Linden and Scott streets, a mile north of the San Bruno station.

Pedestrian Killed by Caltrain, Expect Major Delays

A pedestrian trespassing south of the Broadway Station in Burlingame was struck and killed by southbound Caltrain 314 at approximately early this morning. Caltrain officials ran a bus bridge in both directions between Millbrae and Burlingame stations until approximately 8:40 a.m. when the northbou ... More >>

Assault on Devil's Slide: A 150-Year Tale of Man Versus Mountain

Caltrain Hits and Kills Person on Tracks in Burlingame, Trains Are Stopped

Update 1:13 p.m.: Here's the latest news from Caltrain: Trains will begin single-tracking around the incident scene, while the investigation continues. Northbound train #147 will proceed north first, and Southbound #150 will then proceed south. Original Story 12:59 p.m.: Caltrain officials just c ... More >>

Copper Thieves Are to Blame for Your Hellish Commute Home

Last week, transportation scientists revealed an alarming fact: We're as bad as LA when it comes to gridlock on the freeways. No, traffic is not one of one of our most attractive qualities. In 2011, the average driver in the Bay Area lost 61 hours to gridlocked roads and 25 gallons of gasoline. In ... More >>

Free at Last

SF Weekly Letters

Judge Sides with Tree Huggers Over Highway-Widening Project

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) must reassess how its planned road-expansion project along Highway 101 could truly harm the surrounding redwood trees, a judge ruled.Environmental groups filed a lawsuit last week in San Francisco, hoping to stop Caltrans from widening the two- ... More >>

Bay Bridge Back Open

​The upper deck of the Bay Bridge is back open this morning, 24 hours ahead of schedule. This is newsworthy if for no other reason than the fact that Caltrans never does anything on time, much less ahead of schedule. But Caltrans says it was the good weather that motivated the speedy construction ... More >>

The Old Gray Mare: At 75, the Bay Bridge Remains Hardworking and Overlooked

Caltrain's Draconian Clipper Enforcement Leaves Riders Stranded

Doyle Drive Privatization Deal Approved by Judge

http://woodrowwilson.xanga.comIs this Caltrans' next big expenditure? ​Caltrans today rushed to sign a contract to fund a section of a new Golden Gate Bridge off-ramp in the Presidio with the help of foreign investors. The move came immediately after a judge lifted a restraining order blocking the ... More >>

Caltrain Joins Twitter -- @Caltrain Handle Already Taken

Look! An @Caltrain ... er, @CTWkendBullets!​In hopes of pulling riders off the internet and onto a baby bullet, Caltrain has broken out Twitter and Facebook accounts. Sadly for the rail service, however, the train has already left the station when it comes to snatching up the Twitter handle @Caltr ... More >>

Caltrain Suffering a Slow Monday Morning

​ "Dead in the water" isn't a term one often hears in reference to a train, but it did come up this morning with regard to Caltrain. A southbound train broke down in Menlo Park, forcing its passengers to stumble off and hop the train behind it, says Caltrain spokeswoman Christine Dunn. The switcho ... More >>

Baylinks: Arson, Lake Tahoe, Momblock

Welcome to Berkeley. The times, they are a-changin'!​Tenants believe apartment fire was an act of revenge [Mission Mission]U.C. Berkeley ranked among most "military friendly" schools. No spitting. [U.C. Berkeley News Center]Restoration of Lake Tahoe is flowing smoothly [SF Gate]

Manure Truck Dumps 20 Tons of You-Know-What on I-580

Peeee-eeeew...​What do you call 20 tons of manure dumped in Livermore? An improvement. Sorry, it's a variation of a joke one year older than God's parents. But, on the serious side, traffic along the I-580, well, stinks after a big rig flipped over and dumped its load of organic fertilizer and bar ... More >>

Franciscan Manzanita, Once Thought Extinct, On Way to Becoming 'Endangered'

© California Academy of SciencesThe Franciscan Manzanita: Once 'extinct,' now 'endangered'? ​Usually, a species has to be endangered before it goes extinct. Not the Franciscan Manzanita. It went extinct -- and now it may become endangered. Readers may recall the discovery last year of a Francisca ... More >>

Baylinks: Jerry Brown, Caltrain, Bocce Ball

http://glenparknews.wordpress.com​Jerry Brown saves the children from cookies n' cream one cigarette at a time [SF Citizen]Caltrain looking to make more room for bicyclists [Streetsblog SF]Feds take a whiff of Oakland's new pot ordinance [Bay Citizen]

SF Weekly Letters

Caltrans Sued Over Highway Project Through Redwood Forest

​Environmental activists are suing Caltrans over plans to expand and reroute a highway that passes through Richardson Grove State Park, the Humboldt County preserve that boasts some of California's oldest and tallest coast redwoods.The suit was filed yesterday in San Francisco Superior Court by th ... More >>

Moving Franciscan Manzanita: Not Cheap

© California Academy of SciencesThe most expensive bush since Reggie Bush? ​Readers may recall the irony of scientists discovering an "extinct" Franciscan Manzanita, a plant no one had seen for 60 years in the wild, right in the middle of land about to be leveled for a highway project. At the tim ... More >>

Transit Experts: Caltrain's Future Grim

Going, going, gone?​On April Fools' Day, the CEO of Caltrain made an announcement we wish was just a joke: The agency is beyond broke, and will move to cut half its service. And that's only if it's lucky enough to survive at all. That was the bad news. Here's the worse news: According to transit e ... More >>

Barry Zito Gets No Love on Caltrain

Joe EskenaziBarry's Caltrain dis...​Sports fans -- and public rail enthusiasts -- may have heard how larger-than-life images of San Francisco Giants' stars are now gracing Caltrains' gallery cars. It remains to be seen if this will put more derrieres in AT&T Park's seats -- but it's a wonderfu ... More >>

Broke Caltrain Moves to Cut Half its Service

You likely soon won't see one of these during non-commuter hours​Whenever your CEO prefaces his message to the board with "This is not an April Fools' joke," you're in for some bad news. And bad news is what Caltrain boss Mike Scanlon delivered yesterday: "There's a possibility this railroad could ... More >>

Collision at 4th and King Kills Pedestrian, Delays Muni

View Larger MapA pickup truck and garbage truck collided at around 5 a.m. near the Caltrain station, reports KTVU. The pickup subsequently spun out, striking and killing a pedestrian -- and the driver of that vehicle has been detained by police following a sobriety test.The Medical Examiner told SF ... More >>

So, How Much Does it Cost to Care For an 'Extinct' Plant For 10 Years?

© California Academy of SciencesWhich costs more: Nurturing a super-rare plant or sending a kid to college? ​Earlier this week, SF Weekly wrote about how amazingly well everything had gone in the hastily planned relocation of the Presidio's Franciscan Manzanita -- a plant no one had seen in the w ... More >>

You, Too, Can Check Out Your Hood's Seedy Underbelly Online

Do you like that warm feeling you get knowing that random acts of crime-ness are being committed around you every moment of the day? Well, if so, you're in luck.  The latest addition to the city's amalgam of crime-mapping web sites, www.crimemapping.com, lets you type in an address, tinker with ... More >>

List: Bridging the safety gap

No One Has Driven Off Bay Bridge Today (Yet)

A less problematic S-Curve​Following yesterday's terrifying plunge off the Bay Bridge by a speeding trucker, Caltrans wheeled out the surplus signage to inform drivers of what should have been all too obvious: The posted speed limit on the bridge isn't just a suggestion. Your humble narrator perso ... More >>

Engineer: High Winds a Credible -- But Shocking -- Explanation For Bay Bridge Failure

​Jack Moehle -- a U.C. Berkeley engineering professor and one of the Bay Area's acknowledged experts on freeway and bridge failure -- said that Caltrans' initial claims that high winds contributed to yesterday's rupture on the Bay Bridge is "a credible explanation." Still, he's taken aback that th ... More >>

Whatever Happened to the Safeway Food That Spilled Onto the Bay Bridge? You May Be Eating It.

truckspills.comIt's an amusing photo, but, technically, when food falls off the back of a truck, the general public has no right to purloin it​It turns out that the can of vegetables you serve for dinner in the near future may have a more interesting story to tell than you do. You've probably read ... More >>

Iron Cactus Taqueria Plans to Open Next Week Near Caltrain

Once it starts spinning, you should probably grab your train.​An update on Iron Cactus (683 Fourth St. at Townsend), the SOMA taqueria adjacent to The Creamery (and from the same owners): The revised opening date is next Wednesday, Oct. 21. Iron Cactus' wagonwheel logo, an interior of repurpos ... More >>

Obama's stimulus money will increase traffic, but not bridge safety

Again? Gunn High School Students' Moth-Like Attraction to Caltrain Tracks Has Grown Surreal

We're living through the "interesting times" of the apocryphal malevolent Chinese proverb when folks' first reaction to hearing that Caltrain plans on raising fees while cutting services is "thank God!" The fewer trains running on the tracks, the fewer Gunn High students can end their brief lives be ... More >>

Web Extra — Bonus Best Of

Trainiquette

A commuter's demands from Caltrain.

Transit Spotting

A transportation activist points to inefficient and costly projects like the Central Subway.

Penzeys Now in Bay Area

Some of Penzeys' spices are sufficiently superior that they're worth the extra trouble.

SF Weekly Ticket Giveaway: KPFA Crafts & Music Fair

Attention all you artsy-crafty All Shook Downers and mid-December X-mas shoppers: We've got four pairs of tickets to the KPFA (94.1 FM) Crafts and Music Fair at the Concourse for either Dec.13 or 14 (one day, your choice). Here are some cut-and-paste details (click the above link for more): "Dis ... More >>

Caltrain allows drinks - see seat stains for proof

Person Struck and Killed by Caltrain Sunday

Chron Watch's #1 Star - Caltrans Director Bijan Sartipi

Bones of Discontent - Andrew Galvan carves a unique, controversial role in relocating Native American skeletons

A Bridge Too Far

Is it your fault that the seismic retrofit of the Bay Bridge will be years late, billions over budget, and uglier than ever? Maybe.

A Bridge Too Weak?

A UC Berkeley professor believes the unique new Bay Bridge design is fatally flawed

Butterfat on Wheels

A rolling ice cream social

Sweat, Steel, and Stealth

Retrofitting the Bay Bridge will take five years, hundreds of workers, a million bolts, and 19 million pounds of iron. The hardest part? Making sure no one notices.

Dog Bites

Board of Supervisors; Population Growth; Dot-com Layoffs