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California Department of Transportation

 
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The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 department in the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
 of California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems within the state. The department falls under the state cabinet-level California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency

The California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, or the BTH, is a state Cabinet -level agency in the government of California. The Business, Transportation and Houseing Agency is responsible for oversight of 13 departments within the state government....
.

earliest predecessor of Caltrans was the Bureau of Highways, which was created by the California Legislature and signed into law by Governor James Budd
James Budd

James Herbert Budd was an United States lawyer and United States Democratic Party politician. Involved in federal and state politics, Budd was a member of the U.S....
 in 1895.






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The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is a government
Government

Government is the body within any organization that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws, regulations, or rules. Typically, the government refers to a civil government -- local, provincial, or national -- but commercial, academic, religious, or other formal organizations are also administered by governing bodies....
 department in the U.S. state
U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 state of the United States that share sovereignty with the federal government of the United States . Because of this shared sovereignty, an United States is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of Domicile ....
 of California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems within the state. The department falls under the state cabinet-level California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency

The California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, or the BTH, is a state Cabinet -level agency in the government of California. The Business, Transportation and Houseing Agency is responsible for oversight of 13 departments within the state government....
.

History

The earliest predecessor of Caltrans was the Bureau of Highways, which was created by the California Legislature and signed into law by Governor James Budd
James Budd

James Herbert Budd was an United States lawyer and United States Democratic Party politician. Involved in federal and state politics, Budd was a member of the U.S....
 in 1895. This agency consisted of three commissioners who were charged with analyzing the state road system and making recommendations. After the commissioners submitted their report to the Governor on November 25, 1896, the Legislature replaced the Bureau with the Department of Highways.

Due to the state's weak fiscal condition and corrupt politics, little progress was made until 1907, when the Legislature replaced the Department of Highways with the Department of Engineering, within which there was a Division of Highways. The voters approved a $18 million bond issue for the construction of a state highway system in 1910 and the first Highway Commission
California Highway Commission

The California Highway Commission was established in 1895 and continued until 1978 as the primary state highway bureaucracy in California.Their first noticeable efforts centered on the Lake Tahoe Wagon Road over the Sierra Nevada mountains....
 was convened in 1911. On August 7, 1912, the Department broke ground on its first construction project, the section of El Camino Real
El Camino Real (California)

El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 Spanish missions in California , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcal? in San Diego, California in the south to Mission San Francisco Solano...
 between South San Francisco
South San Francisco, California

South San Francisco is a city in San Mateo County, California, California, United States, located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area....
 and Burlingame
Burlingame, California

Burlingame is a city in San Mateo County, California, California. It is located on the San Francisco Peninsula and has a significant shoreline on San Francisco Bay....
 (now part of California State Route 82
California State Route 82

State Route 82 runs from Route 101 at Blossom Hill Road in San Jose, California to Interstate 280 in San Francisco, California following the San Francisco Peninsula....
). 1912 also saw the founding of the Transportation Laboratory and the creation of seven administrative divisions (the ancestors of the 12 district offices that exist today).

In 1913, the Legislature started requiring vehicle registration and allocated the resulting funds to support regular highway maintenance, which began the next year.

In 1921, the Legislature turned the Department of Engineering into the Department of Public Works.

In late 1972, the Legislature approved a reorganization (suggested by a study initiated by Governor Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California . Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild , and a spokesman for General Electric ....
), in which the Department of Public Works was merged with the Department of Aeronautics to become the modern Department of Transportation.

Administration

For administrative purposes, Caltrans has divided the state of California into 12 districts supervised by district offices. Most districts cover multiple counties
County

A county is a land area of Local government government within a larger state. A county may have city and towns within its area....
; District 12 (Orange County
Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in Southern California California, United States. Its county seat is Santa Ana, California. The state of California estimates its population as of 2008 to be 3,121,251, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County, California and San Diego County, California....
) is the only district with one county. The largest districts are District 4 (San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, or the Bay, is a metropolitan region that surrounds the San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay Bays in Northern California....
) and District 7 (Los Angeles
Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County is a County in California, and is by far, the most List of the most populous counties in the United States in the United States....
 and Ventura
Ventura County, California

Ventura County is a Counties of the United States in the southern part of the U.S. state of California . It is located on California's Pacific Ocean coast, and forms the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area....
 counties). As a state agency, its main headquarters are located in Sacramento
Sacramento, California

Sacramento is the Capital of the United States U.S. state of California, and the county seat of Sacramento County, California. Located along the Sacramento River and just south of the American River's confluence in California's expansive California Central Valley, it is the seventh-largest city in California.....
, which is covered by District 3.

Current Projects

Several important projects include Interstate 105
Interstate 105 (California)

Interstate 105 is an Interstate Highway System in southern Los Angeles County, California that runs east-west from near the Los Angeles International Airport to Norwalk, California....
, the reconstruction of the SR 91
SR 91

SR 91 has the following meanings:* Aurora aircraft* list of highways numbered 91* SR-91 Lens Polarization Technology...
-SR 60-I-215
Interstate 215 (California)

Interstate 215 in California is a long north-south Interstate Highway System Highway in the "Inland Empire " region of Southern California. Part of I-215 was originally built and signed as Interstate 15E, but this was later changed....
 interchange, the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (East Span), and the Devil's Slide
Devil's Slide

Devil's Slide is a coastal promontory in California, USA. It lies on the San Mateo County, California coast between Pacifica, California and Half Moon Bay, California at 37? 34' North, 122? 31' West....
 tunnel scheduled to be completed in 2011.

See also

  • FasTrak
    FasTrak

    FasTrak is the electronic toll collection system used in the state of California in the United States. The system is used statewide on all of the toll roads and bridges along the California Freeway and Expressway System....
  • U.S. Department of Transportation
  • List of roads and highways
    List of roads and highways

    List of articles related to roads and highways around the world....
  • State highways in California
    State highways in California

    Each state highway in the U.S. State of California is maintained by the California Department of Transportation and is assigned a Route number in the wikisource:California Streets and Highways Code/Section 301-635....
  • Eastern span replacement of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge (Caltrans-related controversy)
  • Caltrans Division of Rail
    Amtrak California

    Amtrak California is a brand name used by the Caltrans Division of Rail for all state-supported Amtrak rail routes within the United States US State of California....
    , also known as Amtrak California


External links