Posts Tagged ‘california department of transportation’

Does Caltrans “Set of Values” Include Accountability?


Friday December 18th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:47am PST   •   0 Comments

The California Department of Transportation hired Alex Morales III as statewide coordinator for compliance with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As Jim Miller notes in the Sacramento Bee, Mr. Morales III, who was paid a base salary of $74,912, has been arrested for allegedly accepting “at least $100,000 in bribes, including an…
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Bridge to No Accountability Keeps Cracking Up


Friday November 27th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:07am PST   •   2 Comments

As we have noted many times, the new eastern span of the San Francisco Bay Bridge came in 10 years late and a whopping $5 billion over budget, but all that time and money could not guarantee safety for the public. In 2007, fissures some 10 feet long cut through a steel bar 20…
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More Taxpayer Money for Nothing


Friday October 16th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:01am PDT   •   0 Comments

As we recently noted, the California Department of Transportation employs 3,500 full-time engineers who do little more than sit at their desks. The state’s Legislative Analyst wants to cut these positions, but Caltrans executives cried foul. So did union boss Bruce Blanning, executive director of Professional Engineers in California Government. Blanning told reporters the…
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Audit Tees Off on Statewide Waste


Friday August 28th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:21am PDT   •   0 Comments

As we recently noted, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) pays 3,500 full-time employees to sit around at their desks, as one legislator put it. According to Investigations of Improper Activities by State Agencies and Employees, a new report by state auditor Elaine Howle, they were doing much more than that. One Caltrans engineer,…
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Government No-Cut Contract Hurts Taxpayers


Thursday July 30th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:15am PDT   •   2 Comments

Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen has noticed that the California Department of Transportation, also known as Caltrans, is paying “3,500 people to just be sitting around at a desk.” As Andrew Holzman notes in the Sacramento Bee, Olsen wants to cut those 3,500 full-time positions, for a saving of $500 million, half a billion dollars. As…
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Bay Bridge Keeps Right On Corroding


Wednesday June 10th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 2:35pm PDT   •   0 Comments

As we have repeatedly noted, the stylish new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was 10 years in the making, a whopping $5 billion over budget, and yet riddled with safety issues. We have done our best to keep up with the problems, but they keep on coming. As Jaxon Van Derbeken…
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Bullet Train Cap and Raid


Monday March 30th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 9:41am PDT   •   1 Comment

Politicians promoted the California high-speed rail project as a rapid route between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. But as we noted, the “bullet train” broke ground near Fresno. Now Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee finds a gap between other bullet-train claims and reality. The California High-Speed Rail Authority claims that…
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Bay Bridge Crack-up Continues


Wednesday March 18th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:19am PDT   •   4 Comments

As we have noted several times, the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was $5 billion over budget and ten years late. Despite all that time and money, safety issues with the bridge seem to be getting worse, as Jaxon Van Derbeken of the San Francisco Chronicle explains. For example, the…
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Government Money Guzzlers


Wednesday February 18th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 5:07am PST   •   1 Comment

Californians are paying off $5 billion in cost overruns on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, which came in, count ‘em, ten years late, with its safety still in doubt. Governor Jerry Brown wants to spend $68 billion on a “bullet train” that would be slower and more expensive than air travel. He also wants…
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Bay Bridge Boondoggle Boss Escapes Accountability


Monday February 9th, 2015   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 8:52am PST   •   3 Comments

As we have noted several times, the new eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was $5 billion over budget and, count ‘em, ten years late. That’s a full decade but after all that time and money, safety issues linger with faulty welds and such, which California governor Jerry Brown dismissed with his…
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