Expect work on 101 express lanes to take at least two years
QThe concrete barriers on Highway 101 near Interstate 380 look like they are going to be shifted for the coming express lanes. When will this be completed?
— Matt Bergeson, Mountain View
AIn two to three more years. Caltrans has started work between Whipple Avenue in Redwood City to just north of Interstate 380 in South San Francisco, a distance of 22 miles each way.
Work will occur Sunday through Thursday nights beginning at 9 p.m. and ending at 5:30 a.m. Plan for delays up to 25 minutes until midnight and 15 minutes between 1:30 a.m. and 6 a.m.
QOn Feb. 5, while waiting for a traffic signal on Hickey Boulevard in South San Francisco, I observed a driver, a woman, I think, from the polished fingernails, hanging her hand out of her SUV window and flicking ashes on to the pavement. When the light changed, she flung the still-burning butt on to the pavement. Is there any way to report this behavior to any authority other than you?
— John Selin
ANot a lot. You did get her license plate number and can report it to police, but I doubt they’ll issue an all-points bulletin.
QHave you noticed that the price of gas is less now than the price was after the 12-cent a gallon gas tax was enacted? I filled up for $3.09 at Costco in Concord the other day.
— Randy Iwasaki
AThe average in California is under $3.50 a gallon, compared to a dime higher three years ago.
QThis might have come up before, but as I was filling up at Costco, the thought occurred to me that any gas that comes through the nozzle I pay for, so the vapor recovery that goes back into the pump is free gas to the gas station. Am I not getting cheated? On a personal level, this might be minuscule, but nationwide it could be a huge profit for the gas stations.
— Tom (The Old Curmudgeon) Keeble
AThe purpose of stage II vapor recovery — the system installed in California back in the ’70s — is to capture vapors that were going to escape into the atmosphere. So, yes, the gas station got the benefit of the vapors, but the cost of the equipment was very high.
Later, the technology in the ’90s changed to cars having onboard canisters, which means the car now captures the vapors, so gas stations are no longer capturing vapors, except on older cars.
So, if our Old Curmudgeon has a newer car, he is getting the benefit of his vapors. If it is older, he is not.