Recent Streetsblog SF posts about Caltrans

In Humboldt County, It’s Redwoods Versus the Phantom Wall-Mart

By Matt Baume | Jul 20, 2010 | 14 Comments

Drive north from San Francisco for a few hours, and the 101 will gradually melt into a slim road between giant sequoia trees. You’ve found your way to Richardson Grove State Park, where you can see thousand-year-old redwoods, the South Fork Eel River, and lots of campgrounds, but you won’t see any big box stores. […]

Former Trash-Strewn Lot Becomes An “Off-Ramp Park”

By Michael Rhodes | Apr 14, 2010 | 15 Comments

Sixth and Brannan Park. Photos: Michael Rhodes San Franciscans don’t often spend their days contriving ways to spend more time near freeway off-ramps, especially when proximity to freeways can be a risk to your health, but the city’s newest park along the I-280 exit at Sixth and Brannan Streets may make you think twice about […]

Van Ness Avenue Pedestrian Crashes See Fourfold Increase in 2009

By Michael Rhodes | Feb 12, 2010 | 8 Comments

The mess on Van Ness at California, scene of three pedestrian crashes last year. Photo: Bryan Goebel When the Examiner reported that a double-fine zone on part of Van Ness Avenue had not only failed to reduce crashes, but that crashes had actually increased by 40 percent there in the last year, it raised eyebrows. […]

Protest Over Parking Lot at Transbay Center Site

By Matthew Roth | Feb 5, 2010 | 11 Comments

Teamsters Local 665 workers protest a parking lot at the future site of the Transbay Transit Center. Photos: Matthew Roth. Despite a stated Transit First policy, the Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) are encouraging solo drivers to bring their cars into San Francisco’s downtown and park all day […]

Bailout Beneficiary Wells Fargo Loses Transit Tax-Shelter Lawsuit

By Elana Schor | Jan 13, 2010 | No Comments

The tax tricks known as SILOs — in which major banks snapped up rail cars and other pieces of public infrastructure from cash-strapped localities, only to lease them back and claim a tax write-off — has prompted an outcry from the Hill as Wall Street’s biggest players invoked obscure claims to wring money from local […]

Nature’s Unsung Helper

By Chris Carlsson | Oct 8, 2009 | 9 Comments

Stephen O’Brien, gardener at Transbay Terminal since 1958. Stephen O’Brien has been coaxing an oasis out of a most unlikely environment for a long time: the small green patches at either end of the ground level Mission Street frontage of the Transbay Terminal. He started back in 1958, when the old Key System train tracks […]

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