"No Trucks" Signs Installed on Angeles Forest Highway

(Courtesy of www.lacanadaonline.com)

Following an onslaught of accusations and concerns stemming from big rig accident on April 1 that claimed the lives of a father and his young daughter, and sent seven people to hospitals, new signs have been posted on Angeles National Forest, Angeles Crest Highway and the Foothill (210) Freeway, warning of the steep grade and restricting five axle trucks.

The big rig truck involved in the accident had taken the route from the Antelope Valley (14) Freeway over the Angeles National Forest Highway and ACH. As it approached Foothill Boulevard, it apparently lost its brakes. The investigation is still ongoing as to the exact cause of the accident, but it is known the truck barreled down the ’Crest, out of control.

Angel Posca, 58, and his 12-year-old daughter Angelina, both from Palmdale, had just exited eastbound from the Foothill (210) Freeway and started to turn left onto the ’Crest when the truck struck them and dragged them to Foothill Boulevard.

The big rig, driven by Marcos Costa, 43, from Massachusetts hit five cars before plowing into the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse.

During a city council meeting Monday night, Mayor Laura Olhasso said the victims who survived the crash are on the mend. Sgt. Mark Slater, the traffic-investigating officer at Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station said he is not releasing the conditions of the victims, but did provide some information on those transported to local hospitals. According to Slater, a husband, his wife and two children from Tarzana were in the gray Toyota 4-Runner. The driver of the green Toyota Highlander was a woman from Alhambra, the gray Ford Escape was driven by a 17-year-old girl from La Cañada, the driver of the black Pontiac was a woman from La Crescenta and the driver of the gray Acura was a woman from La Cañada.

The truck driver, Costa, did not report any injuries but his passenger reported "very minor" injuries. A woman from Baldwin Park and a woman from El Monte that were in the nail salon at the time of the crash were also injured when the truck plowed through the bookstore, collapsing a shared wall.

Almost immediately after the accident, the questions of why there are not truck arrester beds along Angeles Crest in La Cañada and why big rigs are even allowed over the ’Crest were asked again by the city of La Cañada to California Department of Transportation. This was not the first time a truck has burned out its brakes going over the ’Crest. In fact, the Valley Sun documented at least 10 such incidents since 1951 at the same intersection after the September 2008 crash involving a semi-truck filled with onions that lost its brakes, plowed into several parked vehicles in the Hill Street Café parking lot. That accident was taken as a warning by the city and officials had been attempting to work with Caltrans to make the ’Crest safer since.

Letters have gone back and forth. In January 2009, the Valley Sun asked Doug Failing, district director of Caltrans, about a study conducted after the September big rig accident. At the time he stated there had not been a history of truck accidents in the area in question and that accident was an "unusual one."

So when the second "unusual accident" occurred on April 1, Caltrans study was once again called into question.

In a recent interview, Failing said the city and Caltrans were working on solutions to the runaway truck problem.

"The initial piece of study had been completed in January," Failing said.

Caltrans on Friday began installing signage that had been on order, warning drivers of the extreme grade that leads from Starlight Crest heading down into the city.

"It is a 7% grade," Failing said.

The study also found that the arrester beds that are still in place in the median along the ’Crest above Sport Chalet Drive were insufficient to stop a runaway big rig.

"To stop a truck going 60 miles per hour you would need an [arrester bed] 4,000 continuous feet long and deeper than what is there today," Failing said.

According to Failing, the bed would also have to be 26 feet wide and at least three feet deep.

Eric Zandvliet, the city’s traffic engineer, is not certain those figures are correct.

"You can slope the [arrester bed] up, which would slow the truck down," he said.

Failing proposed another arrester bed up ¼ mile north of Bay Tree Road in "wide spot in the road."

"The location is about the safest way we have to get them back off the road," Failing said.

This type of conversation with Caltrans is something the city has been wanting for quite a long time.

"We would love to have a dialogue with Caltrans," Zandvliet said.

Zandvliet, Mayor Laura Olhasso and Councilmember Steve Del Guercio have all said that meetings with Caltrans have been difficult at best.

Del Guercio said it was extremely difficult working with Caltrans, either through the studies or permitting process. And Caltrans’ contention that they did not have the authority to stop big rigs from traveling the ’Crest or from simply repairing the arrester beds that are still in the median seems a thin excuse.

Failing said that his boss, Will Kempton, Caltrans’ state director, had received authority to temporarily restrict five axle trucks on the ANF and ’Crest highways but that permanent restrictions would have to go through the state Legislature.

Zandvliet questions that excuse for not putting the signs up.

"I would think that Caltrans would do a study then go to the California Transportation Commission with the findings," Zandvliet said.

If Caltrans found there was cause to restrict traffic and advised the Commission, that should be sufficient, Zandvliet said. This process could also be used with making the present arrester beds usable, he said.

"That’s what we did when we wanted a [signal] at Starlight Crest," Zandvliet said.

In the 1980s signs that marked the arrester beds were taken down. Neither Zandvliet nor Failing know why the signs were gone and why plants in the beds were allowed to overgrow.

Zandvliet would like to see those arrester beds up and working again.

"We can still make it look nice and [functional]," he said. "There can be signs for [runaway truck and cars]. We would also need new sand in there, the gravel is now so compacted."

Zandvliet said even if the beds would not stop a big rig they would be useful to stop smaller vehicles. A car without brakes could still do a lot of damage as it goes down the ’Crest.

"That’s a good point," Failing said, when a reporter pointed that out.

For now the signs restricting five axle trucks are in place for 90 days while legislation to make it permanent is being presented by Assembly Member Anthony Portantino and state Sen. Carol Liu. The Los Angeles County supervisors agreed on Tuesday to ask state lawmakers to ban big rig traffic on the ’Crest. Congressman David Dreier visited Olhasso on Friday to discuss what he could do on a federal level to help prevent this from happening again. They discussed a highway restriction warning on global positioning systems. It has yet to be determined if Costa had received direction via GPS, but the truck driver in September had. With all the national and local attention being paid to the issue perhaps Caltrans and the city will continue a useful dialogue on the issue.

"I hope so," Zandvliet said.