The plan to ease traffic on Highway 50 in Placerville

QWhy is Placerville allowed to bring Highway 50 to a halt with its traffic signals? What other cities along that route are allowed to do this? Those signals bring traffic to a real snarl on Sunday afternoons and should be turned off from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It seems criminal. Am I dreaming?

— Frank Mangini,

Palo Alto

AHoly Placerville. I first wrote about this mess in 2007. Yep, 12 years ago. Now there is some hope.

Caltrans plans to realign Highway 50 south of its current route to bypass the casinos and Heavenly Village, with construction to be completed in 2024. The road through the casino core will be turned into one lane in each direction with center leftturn pockets.

QWhat has changed is that Waze and Google maps have revealed the very few side streets that locals use to avoid the jams on 50. Now all of the streets have traffic jams.

— Joel Williamson,

Placerville

ANot good.

Q

Recently you printed an article advising that a senior who resides in an assisted living residence or nursing home and is unable to visit a DMV office can contact the DMV Senior Ombudsman Program for assistance in securing an ID.

My 89-year-old mother resides in a memory care unit at a senior housing residence so I called, only to be told that the article was in error, and, in fact, you must come in person to the DMV office to get an ID.

The representative told me only terminally ill patients do not have to come into the office, and regardless of my mother’s physical or mental state, she would be required to come in to receive an ID. There is a disabilities window we could use, but we cannot make an appointment for that specific window.

Coming into a DMV office is a significant challenge. I thought you should be made aware of this, as I’m sure others will also try to get this assistance and be rejected.

— Karen Armes, Alameda

AJaime-the-DMV-Man says, “We are getting bombarded with phone calls from people who think the DMV can assist seniors who have trouble finding a way to get to the DMV. Callers are saying they either do not want to go to the DMV or are too old to go. Your article does not make it clear that age alone does not qualify for this assistance.

“There is a specific program called the homebound identification card program for individuals who are truly unable to leave their home — not those who have a difficult time arranging for transportation to their local DMV office. In the response we previously provided, we said specifically ‘if someone ABSOLUTELY cannot visit a DMV field office there are some alternatives available.’ Your article did not convey this requirement.”