Off the Rails on Carbon Canyon Road

It's a shame to see these shiny new guardrails and then have one of them, just weeks after installation as part of the ongoing rehabilitation of Carbon Canyon Road (State Route 142), get christened by an errant driver.

This took place westbound between Canon Lane and Canyon Hills Road and clearly took place at high speed, judging by the impact which left the end of the rail look like a fruit roll.

About a week prior to that, the taller directional and suggested speed sign on the middle of the S-curve at the summit to the east got its "ankle" broken clean and the bollard to the right of it, reinstalled next to the power pole there and which has been hit as many times as the sign, was also bent back by the collision.  This was just a few days after two of the three arrow signs put up by CalTrans as part of the current project to provide more advice on how to drive on the curve were flattened.

Finally, and this goes back a few weeks, the new fencing put up by the owner of the historic La Vida Mineral Springs property on the Brea side, also was welcomed to the neighborhood by a driver heading eastbound who obviously took a curve there too quickly, skidded across the westbound lane (fortunately no one was driving that way) and mowed down a good section of the fencing.  Late last week, workers were out putting up new sections.

So, while it is good to see improvements like signs, rails, reflectors and the like, dangerous driving, mostly on weekend evenings, is still a common occurrence, and likely will not diminish without some kind of patrolling.

Signs Point To . . . No

Well, that didn't take long and it doesn't take a Magic 8 ball to know why. 

It was just a few weeks ago that three shiny, new signs were put at the center level of the S-curve at the summit along Carbon Canyon Road in Chino Hills as part of the months-long rehabilitation project of State Route 142.

The signs, in reflective yellow, are meant to remind drivers to watch the curve and head to the left to continue the descent down the summit.  As many of us know from regular driving of this section of the state highway and as this blog has shown repeatedly over the last decade or so, this curve is among the two or three most common spot for exhibitions of errancy by drivers.

So, it was hardly a surprise to see yesterday morning while heading east to see two of the three signs pulverized by a vehicle.  Obviously, this happened over the weekend, probably late at night, possibly as a result of chemical impairment and/or speed.

New directional signs placed during ongoing rehabilitation work on the S-curve at the summit along Carbon Canyon Road lasted just a few weeks before being plowed down over the weekend.

As has been stated here before, signs are obviously necessary for our roads and highways, but, on Carbon Canyon Road and especially in spots like the S-curve, there is consistent dangerous driving that leads to accidents like this that show that signs are not enough if we want to mitigate these behaviors.

Fortunately, in the vast majority of cases, there aren't injuries, or at least major ones, and fatalities continue to be rare, but how much of these crashes are matter of circumstance where it could have been a lot worse if there had been a slight change in behavior?

There has been talk in recent meetings concerning Carbon Canyon Road of more enforcement by the Sheriff's Department and the CHP, though the latter seems chronically underfunded and the former appears to be only out on the state highway on very rare occasions.

All of the improvements that have been and will be implemented on the highway are welcomed and needed, but signs can never be as effective as patrols, and it is hoped that the ongoing record showing regular dangerous driving on Carbon Canyon Road will lead to more consideration of this fact.

Carbon Canyon Road Improvements in Sleepy Hollow

Slowly, but steadily, the months-long rehabilitation project by CalTrans District 8 to improve Carbon Canyon Road (State Route 142), moves along, despite the closure of the road last week because of a gas line break near the Summit Ranch community in Chino Hills.

So far, the bulk of the work has focused on drainage, reflectors and new guardrails along the project area, spanning from the Orange County line in Sleepy Hollow to the highway's eastern terminus on Chino Hills Parkway at the 71 Freeway.

Installed in rapid precision by crews overnight, a few hundred feet of shiny, new guardrails were installed along the westbound lane of Carbon Canyon Road (State Route 142) as part of a months-long rehabilitation project.

Last night, work in Sleepy Hollow was bright (with powerful lighting to assist workers) and noisy (as power tools were in prominent use), but crews worked very quickly to install a few hundred feet or so of new, shiny guardrails on the westbound side of the road where there is a steep slope dropping down to Carbon [Canyon] Creek.

Of course, the thinking behind installing the rails was to prevent vehicles from careening over the side of the road and down the embankment, but it is also possible that drivers may wind up bouncing off the rail and into oncoming traffic in the eastbound lane.  Bad as it would be to have a single-vehicle accident with someone going over the side of the highway, it may well be a lot worse to have a head-in collision or something like it between two or more vehicles.

More updates will be provided as major elements to the project are completed.

State Highway 142 Rehabilitation Project Starts 18 March

A press release issued today by CalTrans states that a rehabilitation project of State Highway 142, including Carbon Canyon Road and Chino Hills Parkway portions from the San Bernardino/Orange counties line to the 71 Freeway will begin on Monday, 18 March and is expected to continue through December.

The nearly $7 million project entails new pavement, guardrails, and drainage systems and will take place:

Westbound:  Monday-Friday from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Eastbound:   Everyday from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

There will always be at least one lane open on the roadway during the entirety of the project and flagging will be utilized to guide traffic.  CHP patrols will also be in place to monitor traffic.

Commuter alerts can be accesed through the District 8 website, while traffic conditions can be sen at the department's QuickMap site.  Lane closures can be accessed through a separate web page.