Free Republic

What to do with the rundown, dangerous and divisive Evangeline Thruway is a critical open question facing state transportation officials planning an elevated interstate connection through the heart of Lafayette. The Department of Transportation and Development is considering two options: keep the basic structure in place as a frontage road, or reinvent a portion of the roadway as a pedestrian-friendly “Grand Boulevard.” The thruway cordoned neighborhoods to the east when it was built in 1963, and the boulevard idea aims to reconnect those neighborhoods to downtown commerce. State officials and their consultants said a decision will come within a year....

A resolution to name a segment of the 134 Freeway near Occidental College after Barack Obama has moved another step forward, a state senator said Tuesday. The Assembly Transportation Committee on Monday voted 11-3 to rename the stretch of the Ventura Freeway between the Glendale (2) and Foothill (210) freeways the President Barack H. Obama Freeway,

Interesting link: -- MORENO VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — A dirt bike flies over the 60 Freeway in Riverside County. It’s a mind-boggling stunt that would make anyone do a double take. Before launching over the freeway, the rider can be seen accelerating up a dirt path carved from a hillside and then liftoff. There’s plenty of traffic below. The stunning video shot from the air and ground was posted on Kyle Katsandris’ Instagram account, along with a YouTube channel, which features several other clips of Katsandris doing stunts and tricks on his bike.

A reader has e-mailed Breitbart News an image showing a graffiti mural reading “KILL MORE COPS” along Interstate 5 in Los Angeles, a major commuting route in the San Fernando Valley just north of Burbank and Hollywood.

A stretch of the Nimitz reopened early Friday morning after Oakland protesters had shut it down - almost holding a party there - while also setting a small fire and ripping down a Caltrans board. [SNIP] In addition, some protesters painted Oakland police headquarters in red and broke glass and spraypainted a daunting message to police on a side wall that read "MURDERERS" in all capital letters. Nearby, there were smashed windows at Foot Locker and Chase bank on Broadway at 14th Street. [SNIP] At that time in Oakland, there were speeches and marches, and despite the angry mood of...

OAKDALE, CALIF. Oakdale teen Amanda Clark’s phone conversation came to an abrupt end when her Chevrolet Trailblazer rolled three times before landing on its roof. She’d run a stop sign and was broadsided by another driver. Metal caved in around her but the roof stayed intact and she survived with just scrapes and bruises.(snip) One year later, almost to the day, Clark was driving in Manteca. She’d been on the phone arguing with her roommate. When she took the Highway 120 bypass to Interstate 5 she lost control of her car and crashed. Cell phone records show she was texting....

s China's "Golden Week," a seven-day public holiday celebrating the country's national day, came to a close on Wednesday, Chinese citizens flocked home -- at the same time. Around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of northbound vehicles got stuck on the G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau (Jinggang'ao) expressway, People's Daily China reported. The 1,400-mile-long expressway runs between Beijing and Shenzhen, and connects along the way to other major cities in the Hebei, Henan and Guangdong provinces.

Authorities in Arizona said today that they have detained two people of interest for questioning in connection with a spate of shootings that has targeted the heavily-traveled Interstate 10 freeway that runs through Phoenix, leaving commuters terrified for weeks. According to ABC News affiliate ABC15.com, officers with the state's Department of Public Safety surrounded a Tahoe in a parking lot and then took two individuals into custody.

Heavy rains and flooding washed out parts of Interstate 10 in Southern California, shutting down traffic in both directions. (snip) The incident took place near Desert Center, about 170 miles east of Los Angeles and about 50 miles from the Arizona border.

BARSTOW, Calif. (AP) — A box van packed with fireworks exploded and burned to the ground on a Southern California freeway Thursday, clogging the main road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas at the beginning of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. The Chevrolet van caught fire shortly before 1:30 p.m. Thursday on southbound Interstate 15 near the Nevada border, briefly closing southbound lanes for nearly an hour and backing up traffic several miles into Nevada, said California Highway Patrol Officer Ryan Camara. No one was injured.

OAKLAND, Calif. — Hundreds of protesters angry with the acquittal of a neighborhood watch volunteer for a fatal shooting in Florida marched through downtown Oakland Monday evening, temporarily shutting down I-880 in the process. The protest was the third in three days in Oakland following the announcement Saturday that George Zimmerman was found not guilty of the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin after a confrontation where he followed Martin believing he was suspicious. The protest briefly blocked traffic on Interstate Highway 880 and about five people have been arrested, police said. Police could not immediately disclose where and why they...

CRENSHAW (CBSLA.com) — Crowds of anti-Zimmerman protesters shut down part of the 10 Freeway in Crenshaw Sunday evening. About 200 demonstrators stood on the freeway to block traffic. Many held signs with Trayvon Martin’s likeness, other held signs asking for “justice” and “peace.” Traffic was stopped on the EB and SB 10 Freeway for about 30 minutes. There were reports that some of the protesters threw water bottles, batteries and rocks at police near 39th and Crenshaw.

Mayor Ed Lee is floating the idea of tearing down the stub end of Interstate 280 in San Francisco in hopes of creating a new neighborhood and speeding up the arrival of high-speed rail service downtown. The idea, laid out by the mayor's chief transit planner, Gillian Gillett, in a memo to the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission, would be to knock down I-280 before 16th Street - eliminating the ramps both at Sixth and Brannan streets and at Fourth and King streets. It would be replaced by a street-level boulevard akin to those built after the Embarcadero and Central freeways...

Highway Patrol and LAPD in Los Angeles chasing a DUI suspect all over Los Angeles. Live feed.

Honolulu police shut down the Ala Kapuna off-ramp along Moanalua Freeway Honolulu-bound for about two hours this afternoon to investigate a suspicious vehicle that may contain explosives, police dispatch reported.

Eventually, drivers will be electronically scanned without slowing down It's been two years since electronic tolling debuted on the Indiana Toll Road. Drivers no longer have to fumble with coins and cash at toll booths if they have i-Zoom transponders or a similar device from another state. And, eventually, they won't even have to slow down to pay their tolls. The next step for the 157-mile tollway will be implementing open-road tolling, which uses scanners to collect tolls electronically while vehicles are traveling at highway speeds. Toll roads in several other states have already installed open-road tolling. The Illinois Tollway...

The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Friday successfully validated its concept of fighter operations from motorways and highways when its two fighter aircraft landed on a motorway. The historic landmark was achieved as part of the ongoing High Mark-2010 exercise. After landing, the aircraft were refuelled, rearmed and re-launched, Associated Press of Pakistan reported. While the point where the two aircraft touched down was not specified, it was believed to be somewhere on the Islamabad-Lahore motorway or that linking the capital with Peshawar. High Mark-2010, launched March 15, is the PAF’s biggest war game in five years and covers the the...

More than two dozen motorcycles crashed on a freeway in Oregon on Friday, blocking traffic for hours, police said. Oregon State Police said the bikers were behind a car when traffic unexpectedly slowed in the northbound lanes on Interstate 5. The collision sent bikes scattering across the road, near Wilsonville, south of Portland.

Calif. man pulls girl from burning SUV on freeway The Associated Press Jul. 23, 2009 LOS ANGELES -- The California Highway Patrol is calling a Southern California man a hero for rescuing a 3-year-old girl from a burning vehicle on a Los Angeles-area freeway. John McDonald of West Covina was driving on Interstate 10 in El Monte Wednesday when he saw an overturned sports utility vehicle engulfed in flames. Video footage shows him running to help as three people who escaped the burning SUV ran away. The CHP says the driver of the SUV shouted that her granddaughter was still...

The California Highway Patrol is on a manhunt for the person using vehicles on a stretch of Bay Area freeway for target practice. At least 10 cars on Interstate 680 near the Fremont-Sunol border have been riddled with pellets over the past week or so, leaving the people inside rattled with fear. Five of the shootings happened within a five minute span on Saturday. Tom Loker was driving on 680 north of Fremont Saturday at about 11:45 p.m. when his car was hit. "All of a sudden we heard a bang." Loker explained, "It sounded like a gun shot or...