PCH Still Will Flood, but at Least Drivers Will Be Warned

Dear Street Smart:

Every time we get more than an inch of rain, Pacific Coast Highway between Warner Avenue and Goldenwest Street gets blocked, causing a 25-minute detour around Bolsa Chica. Last winter, I got through just as Caltrans was setting up the barricades. . . . Since it looks like a very wet winter, is there any plan to drain the puddles that form in the low spots on the highway?

Dennis Crowley

Huntington Beach

Caltrans plans to let the existing drainage system do its work. But to help avoid situations like the one you describe, spokeswoman Maureena Duran-Rojas said, the agency recently devised an early warning system whereby its maintenance department will be notified immediately by Huntington Beach in the event of flooding on Pacific Coast Highway. When that happens, she said, Caltrans workers will place electronic signs along the road as far away as Seal Beach warning motorists and suggesting alternate routes.

The plan was initiated, Duran-Rojas said, in response to a letter from a commuter very similar to yours.

Dear Street Smart:

My husband and I carpool together 80 miles each day from Anaheim to Burbank/Glendale via the Santa Ana Freeway. Each day we are constantly forced to dodge gravel and rocks flying out of construction trucks along the freeway.

Are there any regulations that prohibit these trucks from traveling with gravel uncovered? Is there anything we can do once our car or windshield has been damaged due to a rock from a truck?

Jina M. Savvas

Anaheim

The vehicle code prohibits a truck from transporting gravel and rocks unless it is covered, or virtually any material unless it is secure. Consequently, said Sam M. Eagle, a Fountain Valley attorney specializing in traffic and personal injury cases, you can sue the driver and/or owner of a truck for damage resulting from falling debris.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a pickup truck and a TV falls off or a construction truck and a rock or stone falls off,” Eagle said.

If you find yourself on the highway being hit by stones from a truck, he suggests you write down its license number and any identifying names or phone numbers on its sides. Then file a police report and make a claim.

Interestingly, there are two exceptions to the law requiring materials to be covered or secured. The exceptions, according to the vehicle code, are “clear water” and “feathers from live birds.” Apparently, you’re in trouble if your water is colored or your birds have died.

Dear Street Smart:

I am about to move into an apartment located in a cul-de-sac which is shaped like a “T.” Is it legal to park perpendicular at the ends of this street?

Huy Tran

Huntington Beach

“You have to park parallel,” said Dan Johnson, a spokesman for the Huntington Beach Police Department. “This is a chronic problem in cul-de-sacs throughout the world because there’s not enough parking in them.”

That said, according to Johnson, enforcing the parking laws in cul-de-sacs is not a high police priority. “We would enforce if we got a complaint,” he said, “but we have plenty to do besides looking into residential cul-de-sacs.”

Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at David.H[email protected] Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.