- California Department of Transportation
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California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) 
Agency overview Formed 1895 Preceding agency Division of Highways Headquarters 1120 N Street, Sacramento, California Employees 22,277 permanent staff Annual budget US$ 13.9 billion (2011) Agency executive Malcolm Dougherty, Acting Director Parent agency California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency Website dot.ca.gov The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government department in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system (which includes the California Freeway and Expressway System) and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state. The department is part of the state cabinet-level California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. Its headquarters is in Sacramento.[1]
Contents
History
District 7 Headquarters, Los Angeles, birds-eye view (designed by Thom Mayne (2004))
The earliest predecessor of Caltrans was the Bureau of Highways, which was created by the California Legislature and signed into law by Governor James Budd in 1895.[2] This agency consisted of three commissioners who were charged with analyzing the state road system and making recommendations. At the time, there was no state highway system, since roads were purely a local responsibility. The roads of California consisted of crude dirt roads maintained by county governments as well as some paved roads within city boundaries, and this ad hoc system was no longer adequate for the needs of the state's rapidly growing population. After the commissioners submitted their report to the Governor on November 25, 1896, the Legislature replaced the Bureau with the Department of Highways.[3]
Due to the state's weak fiscal condition and corrupt politics, little progress was made until 1907, when the Legislature replaced the Department of Highways with the Department of Engineering, within which there was a Division of Highways.[2] The voters approved a $18 million bond issue for the construction of a state highway system in 1910 and the first Highway Commission was convened in 1911.[2] On August 7, 1912, the Department broke ground on its first construction project, the section of El Camino Real between South San Francisco and Burlingame (now part of California State Route 82).[4] 1912 also saw the founding of the Transportation Laboratory and the creation of seven administrative divisions (the predecessors of the 12 district offices that exist today).[2]
In 1913, the Legislature started requiring vehicle registration and allocated the resulting funds to support regular highway maintenance, which began the next year.[2]
In 1921, the Legislature turned the Department of Engineering into the Department of Public Works.[5]
The history of Caltrans and its predecessor agencies during the 20th century was marked by many firsts. It was one of the first agencies in the U.S. to implement the painting of centerlines on highways statewide (thanks to June McCarroll); the first to build a freeway west of the Mississippi (the Pasadena Freeway); the first to build a four-level stack interchange; the first to develop and deploy nonreflective raised pavement markers, better known as Botts' dots; and one of the first to implement dedicated freeway-to-freeway connector ramps for high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
In late 1972, the Legislature approved a reorganization (suggested by a study initiated by Governor Ronald Reagan), in which the Department of Public Works was merged with the Department of Aeronautics to become the modern Department of Transportation.[6]
Caltrans headquarters in SacramentoAdministration
For administrative purposes, Caltrans has divided the state of California into 12 districts supervised by district offices. Most districts cover multiple counties; District 12 (Orange County) is the only district with one county. The largest districts by population are District 4 (San Francisco Bay Area) and District 7 (Los Angeles and Ventura counties). Like most state agencies, Caltrans maintains its headquarters in Sacramento, which is covered by District 3.
Districts
Caltrans district mapDistrict[7] Area (Counties) Headquarters 1 Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino Eureka 2 Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity; portions of Butte and Sierra Redding 3 Butte, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sierra, Sutter, Yolo,Yuba Sacramento 4 Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma, Oakland 5 Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz San Luis Obispo 6 Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, Kern Fresno 7 Los Angeles, Ventura Los Angeles 8 Riverside, San Bernardino San Bernardino 9 Inyo, Mono Bishop 10 Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tuolumne Stockton 11 Imperial, San Diego San Diego 12 Orange Irvine Current projects
Several important projects include Interstate 105, the reconstruction of the SR 91/SR 60/I-215 interchange, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (East Span), and the Devil's Slide tunnel on Highway 1 in San Mateo County scheduled to be completed in 2011.
See also
- FasTrak
- U.S. Department of Transportation
- International Grooving & Grinding Association
- List of roads and highways
- State highways in California
- Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (Caltrans-related controversy)
- Caltrans Division of Rail, also known as Amtrak California
- 511 Contra Costa
References
- ^ "Caltrans Mail Addresses." California Department of Transportation. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 11
- ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 12.
- ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 13.
- ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 32.
- ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 128.
- ^ "Caltrans District Offices". California Department of Transportation. http://www.buildcalifornia.org/html/caltrans_district_offices.html. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
External links
- California Department of Transportation
- Named Highways, Freeways, Structures, and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF)
State and insular area departments of transportation in the United States Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana · Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Puerto Rico · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · WyomingCategories:- Transportation in California
- State departments of transportation of the United States
- State agencies of California
- Government agencies established in 1895
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