HaitiEngineering.org in the news

CALTRANS NEWS

FEBRUARY 2010



Director's Corner
Director Randy Iwasaki


Teamwork is one of Caltrans’ core values. We are a department of tremendous diversity—diversity of people and functions. Many people think of highways, engineers, and maintenance workers when they think of Caltrans, but we are much more than just highways. We touch a part of people’s everyday lives whether they use buses, trains, highways, or airports to get to their destinations. But, those modes of transportation couldn’t run efficiently without all the people behind the scenes. These include planners, accountants, graphic artists, right-of-way agents, receptionists, analysts, and assistants, and these are only a few of the many members of our outstanding team.

Through our teamwork, we’ve also achieved savings to help our state’s strained budget, and I want to thank you for all your efforts. However, I have to ask you to do whatever you can to help us increase our savings. We’ve been asked to carefully evaluate our spending and purchases. I know this is difficult, especially since some of you are already using old equipment.

Please continue to turn off lights, computers, and other equipment when they aren’t in use, or when you will be away for an extended period.

One way we’ve been saving money is through live webcasts, such as the interregional blueprint series that will take place during March and April. This not only allows us to save money that we would spend on travel, but it also reaches a larger audience and allows more people to benefit from the information shared.

With your teamwork and innovative ideas, we can save more money that will allow us to continue to deliver our projects, which in turn helps our state’s economy. If you have innovative ideas to help us achieve more savings, please share them with your supervisor.

I also want to update you on the Bay Bridge project. Caltrans and its contractor American Bridge/Fluor Enterprises (AB/F), a joint venture, were hard at work over Christmas and the New Year’s Holiday, replacing a damaged eyebar that was discovered and repaired over the Labor Day Weekend while the bridge was closed. The top portion of the eyebar was cracked, and we had to remove it. Overall, we replaced and bolted approximately 12 feet of the eyebar to the original.

The first shipment of the new deck, for what will be the world's largest self-anchored suspension bridge, arrived in early January. Caltrans and AB/F went right to work placing the eight segments that arrived, each of which weighs over 1,000 tons. Four of the segments have already been placed, and the effort to place these first segments is on schedule to be complete by the end of March. People who are interested in following this historic work can use Google Earth. Caltrans has worked with Google to provide a 3D model that users can navigate around and watch the progress of the bridge’s construction. From there, people who want more information can click on the bridge, which will transport them to the project's Web site, where they can get video, pictures, animation, and more information on the construction.

After three years of drought, California is finally getting much-needed rain and snow. We’ve experienced some major storms throughout the state, and I want to thank our maintenance crews for their hard work keeping our roads open and storm damage to a minimum. The Grape Vine, Interstate 80, and other key routes serve as major lifelines for goods movement and travel, and it’s vital that these roads are available for use, so thank you.

Finally, as most of you know, a tragic earthquake hit Haiti in January. Some Caltrans employees lost loved ones in the quake’s devastation. As a result, some of our employees have teamed with other companies and departments of transportation across the nation to create a nonprofit organization of people who want to volunteer their skills to help rebuild Haiti. We’ve also let the Governor’s office know that Caltrans employees want to help. You can learn more about Caltrans’ efforts to help Haiti in the next issue of CT News.

As I’ve said before, I am proud to be the Director of an organization of employees who are not only committed to their work, but to other people. Thank you for all you do.