“Stop the Trucks” will Monitor Caltrans Study of Route 33
Ojai Coalition to “Stop the Trucks” will Monitor Caltrans Study of Route 33
Group will file “Freedom of Information” requests to spot potential Caltrans conflicts of interest
Last month, Doug Failing, the head of Caltrans Region 7, announced his agency’s intention to do a study of Route 33 to determine whether or not the road over the Los Padres mountains is in fact suitable for what may potentially be in excess of 300 double hopper gravel trucks per day, 24/7, with each truck weighing up to 80,000 pounds.
This stretch of Route 33 is already one of the most dangerous roads in all of California with one to two fatalities per week. It is physically impossible for a modern day gravel truck to negotiate the numerous switch back curves and three tunnels that were originally built in 1933 without regularly crossing the yellow line into opposing traffic.
Before 2001 there were virtually no trucks on Route 33. Since the closure of gravel mines along the Santa Clara River in Oxnard, that situation has changed drastically much to the detriment of the tourist based economy of the Ojai Valley.
Given that there are currently several proposals by new gravel mining operations in the Cuyama Valley to drastically expand the scope of their operations before both the Santa Barbara and Ventura County Planning Departments, the committee members are greatly appreciative of Caltrans undertaking a Geometric Study of the road.
Although the “Stop the Trucks” coalition had pushed for Caltrans to do this safety review, there is deep concern among committee members as to whether or not Caltrans will do the study accurately.
We are absolutely certain given the evidence that an unbiased evaluation would find that Route 33 is in fact unsuited to becoming an industrial truck route.
Caltrans however, and its many subcontractors along with both County highway departments are among the largest users of gravel in the region. In recent years Caltrans has also invested heavily in strengthening bridges on 33 to support these trucks. This potential conflict of interest became ever more apparent in an interview given by the chief Caltrans traffic engineer leading the study, Sameer Haddadeen.
When questioned about repeated incidents involving trucks moving into oncoming traffic, Haddadeen instead asked if this wasn’t an enforcement issue instead of a question of the road safety. “Right now,” he said, “I think the operation of trucks on Highway 33 is safe. We are only concerned with what the mines are proposing for the future.”
The committee has provided Caltrans with some written testimony, a power point presentation and a taped copy of an Ojai City Council Meeting in which numerous citizens raised specific road safety concerns about increased gravel trucking over Route 33.
Caltrans has promised to have the results of the study completed in two months. Given the obvious potential for a conflict of interest by Caltrans staff, the Ojai based coalition is committed to hiring their own experts to review the completed study. The committee will be filing extensive “Freedom of Information” requests to determine the degree to which Caltrans, the various gravel mines and the County highway and planning departments have prior vested interests in continuing to use this route.
Of particular concern are the origin, nature and extent of contracts between these agencies and the Ozena mine, which first went into business in 2001 and claims to have extensive contract with Caltrans and various municipal agencies for mining, trucking and the reprocessing of waste concrete and scrap. The owner of the Ozena mine has also owned and operated for almost 30 years two Boulevard Sales & Service gun stores, one in LA and the other in the Ojai Valley that were raided and closed by Federal ATF agents last month. Filings by those agents allege that 897 firearms that were used to commit a crime by gangs such as the Crips and Bloods were traced back to Boulevard. A LAPD officer was also allegedly shot with one of the guns. At least 29 of the guns are also connected to murder investigations. (High placed sources in the Ventura County Planning Department have indicated that the Ozena C.U.P. application could potentially be scuttled on grounds of moral turpitude. Although neither admitting nor denying that an active investigation is under way, sources in the D.A.’s office acknowledged being well aware of the situation.)
Other FOI requests will include but not be limited to be copies of all contracts, billing statements, letters, etc. between Caltrans, their subcontractors and haulers and any of the mine operators in the Cuyama Valley; Any and all prior research reports, letters or communications regarding the strengthening of bridges on Route 33, the overall safety of the road and the geometrics of the hairpin turns and the three tunnels; Any and all documents concerning the relationship between Santa Barbara County agencies and the Cuyama Valley mines; And any and all documents concerning the relationship between Ventura County agencies and the Cuyama Valley mines.
Some of the specific safety concerns of the coalition in regards the Caltrans study include:
1) A series of tunnels that were carved through the mountain back in 1933 that are far too narrow and short to accommodate even a single modern gravel truck in its lane.
2) Numerous hairpin turns that gravel trucks are equally unable to navigate without crossing into on coming traffic.
3) Excessive speeding by trucks paid by the load and not by the hour that have already been photographed jack-knifed all across the road.
4) Excessive wear and tear on the road bed, not only on the mountain stretch but also through Ojai to the 101. Already the Arnaz Grade, repaired after winter floods only 18 months ago is beginning to break down and collapse due to overweight truck traffic. During emergency weather conditions the Arnaz Grade is Ojai’s only access to the rest of the world. A future collapse here could be catastrophic.
5) Excessive volume of truck traffic that prevent anyone else from safely using the road.
6) Frequent adverse weather conditions atop the mountain, including ice and snow, that may not be apparent to truckers coming from either Cuyama or Ojai.
7) An absence of truck scales between Cuyama and Ojai as well as a total inability of CHP to enforce traffic rules – something gravel truckers count on.
8) Air and noise pollution from diesel trucks spewing fumes and particulate that will remain trapped in the Ojai Valley and exacerbated by prevailing wind conditions. The total of cumulative pollutants is expected to exceed the levels that enabled the Ojai community to effectively block the proposed Weldon Canyon waste site in the 1990’s.
9) Lack of monitoring of the hours of truck traffic and there overall impact as they pass by our high school, hospital, shopping center, and senior citizen mobile home parks.
10) Contracting by government agencies with the owners of firms such as Boulevard that have an apparent disregard for the law.
The committee to “Stop the Trucks”
In January, ForestWatch organized a town meeting in Ojai, during which hundreds of people packed Chaparral Auditorium on a rainy night to find out more about this issue. Since then, many community leaders who attended that town meeting have joined together to form the “Stop the Trucks” coalition.
The Committee is not opposed to gravel mining or trucking per se. What it does insist upon is total adherence to reasonable guidelines that protect the economic, environmental and safety concerns of the citizens of the Ojai Valley, a unique area whose economy is 60% dependent on tourism – something that is incompatible with heavy, industrial truck traffic 24/7.
The Committee is focused on using all legal and political means aimed at stopping excessive truck traffic on Scenic Highway 33. As a community Ojai has the experience, the expertise, the total determination and the deep financial pockets to fight this effort in every legal manner possible.
During an all too brief public comment period for the Diamond Rock Mine’s Draft Environmental Impact Report to the Santa Barbara Planning Department which closed on January 31, 2007, more than three hundred and fifty individuals, businesses, and organizations wrote letters challenging that EIR.
In addition to ForestWatch, others voicing their concerns during the comment period were: Ojai Chamber of Commerce, Ventura County Supervisors Steve Bennett and John Flynn, Ojai City Council, Ojai Unified School District, the U.S. Forest Service, California Department of Fish & Game, Ventura and Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control Districts, Ojai Valley Municipal Advisory Council, Chumash Council of Bakersfield, Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians, the Los Padres Forest Association, Keep the Sespe Wild, Sierra Club, Mira Monte Beautification Committee, Ojai Valley Board of Realtors, Ojai Valley Green Coalition, Environmental Coalition of Ventura County, Cuyama Valley residents and landowners, and hundreds of other agencies, organizations, local businesses, and individuals.
Our Concerns:
First: Ojai's economy and that of the surrounding region is based on tourism and safe access to the wilderness surrounding it. Adding a steady flow of fully loaded double hopper gravel trucks at all hours of the day and night onto California Route 33, which is the main transportation artery into the valley, is incompatible with safe access to this community.
Route 33 north of Ojai is mile for mile already one of the most dangerous highways in all of California. The California Highway Patrol, the U.S. Forest Service and the ambulance services in Ojai will confirm that during any given week there are at least one to two fatal or near fatal wrecks in the mountains above town.
Second: Though various EIR’s and county staff reports describe 33 as a rural highway, that is completely unrealistic. North above Ojai it is torturous two lane mountain road that climbs from the valley floor, twisting and turning through a dozen dangerous hairpin turns until it reaches a crest of over six thousand feet. From there it plunges rapidly in what more resembles an E-Ticket ride back to the isolated Cuyama Valley.
Route 33 was built during the Great Depression as a WPA project. At the time it was conceived as the ultimate north-south road for all California commerce. That 1930's vision failed the reality test. The road is simply too dangerous and it was ultimately replaced by the "5," the "101" and the "99."
Third: Route 33 already surpasses its maximum traffic loads in the Ojai Valley, particularly during the morning and afternoon rush hours. Once one passes Fairview heading south it is the main and at times only traffic artery through the heart of this valley, home to some thirty thousand residents. It passes by the hospital, the high school, our only shopping plaza, numerous senior citizen mobile home parks and the main generator of our economy, the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa. Adding double long gravel trucks at all hours is not going to help this situation.
Fourth: The statistics given as projections in various EIR’s and CUP documents for the number of trips and the hours permitted by these trucks can also only be described as woven only from ones imagination as gravel trucks are already exceeding these limits now. Trucks currently descend into Ojai 24/7. There is no oversight or enforcement of current rules. Given the penchant mine operators already have to “wink” at the law, we have no expectation that this scenario will improve.
Fifth: We are not against allowing the mining and transportation of gravel. However the only safe solution is to require and restrict all gravel trucks to limit their driving to the far safer Route 166 from Cuyama to the 101 at Santa Maria.
Sixth: For more information go to: http://www.ojaipost.com/stopthetrucks.shtml
For a full PowerPoint presentation on these you can also go to: http://www.ojaipost.com/2007/03/gravel_trucks_high_impact_on_h.shtml
Gravel Truck Comparision from the 1950's and Today
"Right now,” said chief Caltrans traffic engineer leading the study, Sameer Haddadeen, “I think the operation of trucks on Highway 33 is safe. We are only concerned with what the mines are proposing for the future.”
Three tunnels on Route 33 are too low and narrow for trucks to pass through without crossing into opposing traffic
"Right now,” said chief Caltrans traffic engineer leading the study, Sameer Haddadeen, “I think the operation of trucks on Highway 33 is safe. We are only concerned with what the mines are proposing for the future.”
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