[UPDATE 10/12/12: Per the comment below forwarded from the Caltrans District 7 bicycle coordinator, the "chip seal" pavement is temporary, and a top coat of pavement will be applied before the project is completed sometime in November 2012. The original post below has not been edited.
UPDATE 1/22/13: Still no top coat of pavement on top of the chip seal.]
I have a weekend cabin in the town of Wrightwood. One of my favorite bicycle rides is heading out my front door westbound onto Highway 2 and back – until yesterday. The highway has been resurfaced with a chip seal (photos below) from the Los Angeles County line, ending 13 miles west at Dawson Saddle. If the “road work next 60 miles” sign in Wrightwood is any indication, than this is planned for the remainder of the rural part of the highway.
Chip seal makes for a noisier ride in a car, but for bicyclists it’s a much harsher ride compared to smoother blacktop. Although I haven’t ridden a motorcycle in a long time, I can’t imagine motorcyclists would be happy with this either.
I realize the choice of chip seal was probably a cost savings measure. It’s not an uncommon treatment for rural roads in other parts of the country, especially in locations where there’s a large number of low volume roads to maintain. But this road is in an area where there’s no other through roads. In addition, this road sees a significant amount of motorcyclist and bicyclist tourist traffic outside of the winter months. I can’t imagine that the bicycle racers from the Tour of California – an event which brings tourism dollars to the area – would enjoy riding on 40 miles of this if they were to repeat the route from Stage 6 in 2010. Those same 40 miles also form part of Adventure Cycling’s Sierra Cascades bicycle touring route.
Furthermore, they’ve really done this on the cheap and only resurfaced to the fog line, which can pose additional hazards to bicyclists.
I’m sure what’s done is done this time around. Let’s just hope that Caltrans will reconsider the choice of chip seal the next time the road is due for a resurfacing.
Below are some photos.
Westbound on Highway 2, leaving San Bernardino County and entering Los Angeles County.
Here’s a closeup of the pavement. New chip seal.
The fresh chip seal continues all the way to Dawson Saddle, 13 miles west of the county line.
Sign in Wrightwood. Does Caltrans plan to chip seal the entire Angeles Crest Highway?
Just before the turnoff to Big Pines Highway. Note the abundance of loose rock.
Approaching Blue Ridge. Steep drop off from the new to the old pavement.
The last two paving jobs have repaved less of the highway each time.
Here’s a closeup of the above pavement.
[...] Cycling Team. C.I.C.L.E. hosts a Pasadena ArtNight Ride this Friday. Biking Brian says Caltrans has ruined the popular Angeles Crest Highway for bicyclists; that’s what happens when the needs of bike riders aren’t even considered. [...]
wow. that’s pretty awful. what were they thinking? as an avid cyclist that rides up there a ton, it just shows how stupid decisions come one after another from the people that run things at CalTrans. Unbelievable. I’m going to call them and I suggest others do too.
It is likely that this road work is not completed, the rough surface will probably be coated with a tar slurry that will be laid down later. Unless this is designed to wake up drivers that are falling asleep, it is very unlikely that it will be left like this.
@Derek – A cyclist who regular attends the Caltrans Bicycle Advisory Committee meetings said he will bring this up at the next meeting in downtown LA.
@Crystal Lake – I hope you’re right. I didn’t think of that possibility, since they’ve already done the center line and fog line striping. Then again, the plastic “cat tracks” sticking up on the center line are still in place. So it is possible that they will come back and put another coat on top and then repaint the stripes.
Yes, I would suggest calling Caltrans District 7 at 213-897-3656 to find out about the project. Though, Caltrans District 8 maintains SR-2 from the LA County line to Islip Saddle. Also, before railing against Caltrans you may remember that it was Caltrans who spent $10 million to rebuild the connection between Wrightwood and the rest of the forest. It was also Caltrans that spent over $30 million of federal funds to repair the severe washouts during post-Station Fire rains. Those repairs are very extensive and unfortunately not cheap. Furthermore, it is Caltrans maintenance that risk there lives to clear the ice, snow, and rocks, and keep that highway open so everyone can experience the great ANF. Additionally, it was Caltrans maintenance crews that lost 3 of their 4 Chilao Maintenance Station homes to the Station Fire while they were out clearing the roadways for firefighters. Actually, you can call me if you’d like –213-897-3630.
Bummer I really hope they tar it. The rest of the crest is so nice. I was planing on putting in some miles up there next week
In Pennsylvania, tar and chip is about 1/10 the cost of conventional repaving. Given our budget constraints, that is a pretty compelling motivator. After a couple weeks, when the loose stones are all gone it is an acceptable riding surface.
You need to put more money in your state budget to get rid of tar and chip paving.
All that said, not treating the shoulder and leaving a longitudinal lip is completely unacceptable.
from our Bike/Ped Coordinator at Caltrans District 7:
“This project is in both L.A. County (District 7) and San Bernadino County
(District 8). I have inquired as to the status of this project and who is
responsible for overseeing the project. I have checked with Mr. Ed
Toledo, who is the Maintenance Supervisor for this area. Ed informed me
that the existing “chip seal” condition is iterim, and the roadway,
including the shoulders, will be overlayed again, with a smoother coat.
The project is scheduled to be completed in November 2012, weather
permitting. Caltrans is the lead on the project. The resident engineer is
based in the Glendale Field Office, and the project engineer is Debbie
Wong. I am checking with Debbie as to the construction procedures.”
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Dale Benson
District 7 Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator
SRTS, SR2S, HSIP, EEM, BTA, Federal Discretionary, Grants Coordinator
Senior Transportation Engineer
Office of Local Assistance
California Department of Transportation, District 7
100 S. Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
telephone (213) 897-2934
@Stephen – Thanks for the update!
We rode The Crest on the last weekend of September on a recon mission for a group ride we were putting together, at that time some of the chip seal had been done. Last Sunday however… WOW, we were shocked at the road conditions, and none of the 30 plus bikes were too happy about it. But we had a great ride any way, well mostly. It sure did slow down the crotch rockets though! Great article, linking to my own.
Nope, still not fixed as of last weekend, and there’s still an OBSCENE amount of loose rock hanging around. I tried to turn my motorcycle off ACH onto Big Pines just outside of Wrightwood but the loose rock on the smooth pavement in the intersection wasn’t having it. Hooray for lowsides
[...] and my recon mission at the end of September. At that time, CalTrans was already in the process of chip sealing it for the winter season. However, three weeks later several miles were completed. This slowed [...]
Hi all,
I’m in LA end of June for a conference and I was thinking about riding the angeles crest highway. Any progress on the repairs? Are they done? I’m from Europe (The Netherlands) and I don’t have a clue
.
Thanks,
Wido.