Here another story about the dangers of Highways 70 and 99 between Sacramento and Marysville/Yuba City:
South Sutter traffic tragedy
By Rob Young/Appeal-Democrat
May 9, 2008 - 2:33PM
A San Jose woman was killed and at least four other people were injured Friday in a Highway 70 collision involving an Amtrak California bus, two vans and two cars.
The accident occurred at 1:29 p.m. about one-quarter mile south of Marcum Road and closed Highway 70.
The driver of a 1995 Acura Integra, Vang Yang, 22, of Sacramento, apparently caused the collision by trying to pass the northbound bus on the busy, two-lane road, said Capt. Jim Young of the California Highway Patrol, who credited the bus driver with avoiding more casualties.
The bus remained upright in a shallow ditch on the east side of the highway.
"That says a lot right there," said Young.
"I avoided everything I could, but it was impossible," the bus driver, Terry Campbell, 54, of Shasta Lake City, said.
Two passengers were taken to Rideout Memorial Hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening.
The dead woman, Rosa Mendoza, 40, was removed from the remains of her 1993 Nissan van more than 90 minutes after the collision.
After apparently striking the left front corner of the bus, the Acura hit the van head-on, said Young.
Celeste Hewitt was following the southbound van in her subcompact car, two vehicles back. She was on her way home to Santa Cruz County after visiting her mother in Oregon.
The disintegrating van "looked like foil rolling back at me, lighter than air," said Hewitt.
"It's senseless to pass with bumper-to-bumper traffic. People just died because someone was in a hurry," said Hewitt.
Hewitt tried to avoid the van but the front of her car had front-end damage. She was uninjured.
"It was terrible," she said, shaken.
"My angels were flying with me," she said.
One occupant of the Acura was airlifted to a hospital and another transported by ambulance. Their names were not immediately available.
Capt. Dave Samson of the Sutter County Sheriff's Department said Mendoza had been in the Yuba-Sutter area before the accident.
I've known about the dangers driving on Highway 70 between Highway 99 and the Plumas Lake area, especially since it's currently a two-lane highway. Even I get pissed when someone passes me because they want to show off and hurry to the mini-mart or some waste-of-time activity. I've driven that highway many times. It's scary. Sometimes I take the backroads, which is less busier.
That poor woman who died didn't have to because some young dumb ass in a speedy Acura Integra was impatient. Just another case of plain stupidity. My heart goes out to her family. She would've been alive and well had not this young 22 year-old fool caused this collision. I hope the Acura driver is charged with vehicular manslaughter charges or even a harder charge and I hope it haunts him for the rest of his life.
====
Caltrans is trying to get the remaining two-lane Highway 70 between Highway 99 and the Plumas Lake area turned into a four-lane freeway, including a bypass around the very small town of East Nicolaus with a interchange at Nicolaus Road. The future exit is already numbered exit 4. There would also be an interchange with Feather River Boulevard in Plumas Lake (currently it's a traffic signal). They allocated $126 million for this project and construction has started, though its in it's infancy. Their projected completion is somewhere in 2010 or 2011, a mere 2-3 years away.
