Here’s a good rule of thumb: Don’t store explosive or combustible material under freeways.
Yet, enforcement of this common-sense principal appears a daunting task for the California California Department of Transportation, the agency responsible for the state’s highway system. Caltrans leases out 600 sites either under or adjacent to its roadways, generating about $35 million annually.
In November, an inferno fed by combustibles stored under Interstate 10 closed the freeway near downtown Los Angeles for eight days. We said afterward that Caltrans should stop leasing storage space under freeways.
The damage from the I-10 fire showed that the risk does not justify the small amount of income to the state. Now a new report from the transportation agency shows that the leasing program is even riskier than first thought.
When state fire marshals recently inspected 47 of the storage sites statewide, only 12 passed, according to the Feb. 6 report. Inspectors found combustible trash, vegetation, tires, debris, stacks of wooden pallets and other hazards.
In the Bay Area, those inspections included nine under Interstates 880 and 580 in Alameda County, two under I-580 in Richmond and five under I-280 and Highway 101 in San Francisco. Only two of the Bay Area sites passed.
The report does not inspire confidence in either the under-freeway leasing program nor Caltrans’ ability to manage it.
Of the agency’s leased sites, about 159 are used for cell phone towers adjacent to freeways, which don’t present a hazard. It’s many of the other 441 sites that are problematic.
Yet, three months after the I-10 fire, Caltrans is unable to even quantify how many of those sites are used for under-freeway storage nor the revenue produced from that part of the program. Nor could Caltrans supply an estimate of how the repairs to I-10 cost, to say nothing of the economic cost of shutting down a major transportation artery for more than a week. The agency’s ineptness is stunning.
To successfully manage the leased storage space under its freeways, the agency would need solid recordkeeping and frequent and complete inspections, as well as an efficient process to force tenants to clear out any hazardous materials. Clearly, Caltrans is not up for the task.
Some of the policy recommendations in Caltrans’ latest report show just how inadequate the lease program’s current safeguards are. Caltrans recommends, for example, that the agency create and maintain an up-to-date inventory of the 600 leased properties to be reviewed each quarter. It is mind-boggling that California does not already maintain such a database online, instead choosing to keep information on paper scattered around various offices.
Caltrans also suggests requiring that risks involving flammable, combustible, explosive or other hazardous materials stored under structures be addressed immediately. It’s hard to understand why this has not been the agency’s policy all along.
With time, resources and aggressive enforcement of updated policies, a competent agency might be able to reform the program to ensure only safe materials are stored below underpasses. Not Caltrans.
The agency should stick to its core mission of providing a safe and reliable transportation network for the state. And that should begin with ceasing its dangerous under-freeway leasing program.