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The I-80 Whistleblower was clearly Right

I-80 causeway 4th lane done 2024 04 14 sketch 2

By Alan Hirsch

The Caltrans whistleblower Jamie Wald-Waller accused Caltrans district 3 to beginning widening the causeway illegally- using  SHOPP-money   i.e.  funds reserved to maintain pavement surfaces. If you drive California freeway you know how short we are here on money to maintain what we already  have.

But not only does this action by Caltrans a the misappropriation of funds,  it is wildly illegal to widen a road without going thru the environmental process.

 You can see it happen in this picture of the causeway= the have repaved the center shoulder it already is a new 4th travel lane. This picture was on West Sac End of the causeway east bound on Sunday  4/14/24.  You can also notice I-80/ Reed Ave  bridge in West Sac is  being widening for the new toll lanes with money that was supposed to be only used for road maintenance.

Caltrans official I District 3 will likely get away with no consequences.

Even if you think we need the widening, should it not go thru the legal process—that has enabled added thousand of miles of new lane in the past?

This reflect a culture of corruption: If Caltrans District 3 is institutionally willing to do, why should anyone trust them on any report or application?

It seems if you have enough money the law is not an impediment to accomplishing your goals. One can also question who the elected officials in Yolo County who have said not a word as this illegal behavior works to accomplish their goals.

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Comments

One response to “The I-80 Whistleblower was clearly Right”

  1. Tuvia ben Olam DBA Todd Edelman

    Yes!
    BUT I would suggest that we consider if “widening” is the most useful term here. For the uninitiated, uneducated-on-this-issue etc. my sense is that it sounds inaccurately positive. While I would love to squander a State “Talk About Transportation” Grant to see what actually is most effective, my free version is e.g. “stuffing”, “delayed stuffing”….
    About Yolo, I think we may need to figure out how to better manage the famous Yolo slogan traded around the cornhole, “I was just following orders”. YoloTD is not the military, etc. You get my grok I think. Senior staff has a lot of power, and can’t be voted out – indeed, some work in their positions for many years. It’s patently absurd that at least senior staff at YoloTD didn’t know about this, and a seriousName question that this large misspent fraction of a billion wasn’t outed before someone at CT had to risk their job.

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