California Department of Transportation

California Department of Transportation
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
Caltrans.svg
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 Sacramento

Administration

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 map
District[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

References

  1. ^ "Caltrans Mail Addresses." California Department of Transportation. Retrieved on November 19, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 11
  3. ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 12.
  4. ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 13.
  5. ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 32.
  6. ^ Raymond Forsyth and Joseph Hagwood, One Hundred Years of Progress (Sacramento: California Transportation Foundation, 1996): 128.
  7. ^ "Caltrans District Offices". California Department of Transportation. http://www.buildcalifornia.org/html/caltrans_district_offices.html. Retrieved 2010-02-13. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • California Department of Transportation — Création 1885 Siège 1120 N Street, Sacramento, Californie Langue(s) anglais Budget 13,8 millions de $ Dirigeant(s) Malcolm Dougherty …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Department Of Transportation — (DOT) est le nom le plus courant en Amérique du Nord pour désigner des agences publiques en charge des transports. La plus importante est l United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), le Département des Transports des États Unis qui est… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Department of Transportation — (DOT) est le nom le plus courant en Amérique du Nord pour désigner des agences publiques chargées des transports. La plus importante est l United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), le département des Transports des États Unis qui est… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Department of transportation — (DOT) est le nom le plus courant en Amérique du Nord pour désigner des agences publiques en charge des transports. La plus importante est l United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), le Département des Transports des États Unis qui est… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Department of Transportation — This article is about North American Departments of Transportation. For other uses, see Department of Transport. The Department of Transportation (DOT) is the most common name for a government agency in North America devoted to transportation.… …   Wikipedia

  • California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection — InfoboxFireDepartment name = California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CALFIRE) motto = established = 1905 staffing = Career strength = 3,800 permanent 1,400 seasonal 4,300 inmates 8,200 volunteers [http://www.fire.ca.gov/about/about …   Wikipedia

  • California Department of Fish and Game — Infobox Government agency agency name = California Department of Fish and Game nativename = nativename a = nativename r = logo width = 250px logo caption = Official logo seal width = seal caption = formed = 1909 date1 = date1 name = date2 = date2 …   Wikipedia

  • California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation — Infobox Law enforcement agency agency name = California Department of Corrections Rehabilitation nativename = nativename a = nativename r = logo width = 250 logo caption = California Department of Corrections Rehabilitation patch seal width =… …   Wikipedia

  • California Department of Toxic Substances Control — The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (or DTSC) is an agency of the government of the state of California. The Mission of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control is to provide the highest level of safety, and to… …   Wikipedia

  • California Department of General Services — The California Department of General Services (DGS) is a state government agency in the executive branch of the government of California in the United States. It provides a large number of services to other agencies in the government of… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”