Trash along highways keeps getting worse throughout state

Q

I have complained about the trash on the ramp to Interstate 80 north to Sacramento at El Portal Drive in San Pablo. There have been a ton of complaints about this problem, but no results. My understanding is Caltrans has one speed — slow. Maybe you can help.

— Terry Jakes, San Pablo

A

I’ve forwarded this to Caltrans. Sadly, this huge eyesore of trash is getting worse throughout the state. The amount of trash collected by Caltrans jumped to more than 186,000 cubic yards last year. That’s enough that if stacked one yard high and one yard wide, the line of garbage would extend for approximately 105 miles — from Santa Ana to Tijuana, or from Roseville to San Francisco. It is the approximate equivalent of 1,302,000 trash bags full. The news gets worse. The state spent $102 million in cleanup costs in 2019 just on highways.

That’s up from $65 million two years earlier. Ugh.

Q

I predict the average price of regular gasoline on Memorial Day in California will be $4.27. It is already up to $4.15 at my Chevron station in Belmont. Do you remember lining up in the early ’70s when gas was approaching $1 per gallon?

— Christine Khoury, Belmont

A

Sure do. But if prices rise well past $4 a gallon on average, long lines at stations like Costco may reappear.

A reminder: You can win a free tank of gas in Roadshow’s contest if you correctly predict what the average price of regular gasoline will be on Memorial Day in California. Send your prediction to me by May 1.

You can send it to facebook.com/mr.roadshow or email it to me at mrroadshow@bayareanewsgroup.com. When you turn in your entry, include your name and the city where you live and use GASCONTEST in the subject line.

Q

My projected gas price is $4.28, but your contest is ambiguous as to how you define the winning Memorial Day price. Do you average out of the way, in the boonies stations selling say at $6 a gallon versus Costco selling thousands of gallon at a low price? Is the state average over the prior week, or maybe the prior day? Cash or charge price? Surely you mean to predict the pump price, including all taxes, etc., not just the posted cost of the gasoline.

With prices varying throughout the state, is there a calculation by region? And is there anything else we need to know? Come on, Gary. I need this information to win!

— John LaLonde, Pacifica

A

It’s a one-day look at prices throughout the state from the boonies to small to big cities and is based on regular gas. Taxes are included. I will be using AAA gas prices for the average of regular gas in the state on Memorial Day.