BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



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          Date of Hearing:   April 13, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
                                   Mike Eng, Chair
                 ACR 24 (Carter) - As Introduced:  February 11, 2009
           
          SUBJECT  :  State Route 215

           SUMMARY  :  Designates a bridge on State Route (SR) 215 as the  
          John Knabenbauer Fifth Street Bridge.  Specifically,  this bill  :   


          1)Recounts the life and career of John Knabenbauer, a  
            maintenance employee of the Department of Transportation  
            (Caltrans), who tragically lost his life when he was struck by  
            a vehicle while working on SR 215.  

          2)Designates the Fifth Street Bridge on SR 215 in San Bernardino  
            as the John Knabenbauer Fifth Street Bridge.  

          3)Requests Caltrans to determine the cost of appropriate signs  
            consistent with the signing requirements for the state highway  
            system showing this special designation and, upon receiving  
            donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost,  
            to erect those signs.  


           EXISTING LAW  :  Assigns Caltrans the responsibility to operate  
          and maintain state highways.  This responsibility includes the  
          installation and maintenance of highway signs.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  John Knabenbauer embarked upon his state service  
          career in 1990 in the Landscape Division of Caltrans District 7  
          (Los Angeles) as a Maintenance Worker, and he transitioned to  
          Highway Maintenance in 1992, where he remained until 1995, when  
          he transferred to District 8 in Riverside. 
           
          Mr. Knabenbauer was promoted to Caltrans Equipment Operator II  
          in Riverside in 2000, and transferred to the Fontana Maintenance  
          Yard in 2005.  He received a commendation from President George  
          W. Bush for his work in 2003 during the "Old Fire" in San  
          Bernardino, where he helped maintain traffic control at the  
          bottom of the hill and used a plow truck to maintain an  








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          evacuation route.  

          John Knabenbauer succumbed to injuries he suffered on November  
          28, 2007, when he was struck by a passing vehicle while working  
          on SR 215, near the Fifth Street off-ramp, in San Bernardino.   
          Over a thousand Caltrans workers attended his funeral and, in  
          his honor, flags at the Capitol were flown at half-staff  
          following his death.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Department of Transportation (Caltrans)

           Opposition 
           
          None received
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :   Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093