August 17, 2000

Steven Scholl, Deputy Director
California Coastal Commission
45 Fremont Avenue, Suite 2000
San Francisco, CA 94105-2219

Dear Steve:

I received a copy of your letter to Caltrans, dated August 14, 2000.  Thank you for taking the time in your busy schedule to complete this task.

The letter is excellent, but you might want to clarify one item for Caltrans.  This is request in Item 3.  As it now stands, Caltrans is likely to be confused by the request.  What I had suggested in Item 4 of my letter of July 14, 2000 was to have Caltrans create a single combination pedestrian and bicycle rail based on a Wyoming Rail.  This railing would be used as the sole outer railing on bridges where a two-rail system (as described accurately by you in your Item 2) is not warranted.  To modify the Wyoming Rail to meet the pedestrian and bicycle standards, I suggested that Caltrans be requested to use thin horizontal steel cables rather than vertical pickets.

I suggest you might want to send a follow-up letter to Caltrans with the following revision for your Item 3:

3.      Please provide the Commission with designs for a pedestrian railing and for a combination pedestrian-bicycle railing based on a Wyoming Rail modified using thin horizontal metal cables to reduce openings to the sizes required for safety.  The Golden Gate Bridge has used this approach in its design for a new railing for the inner edge of the sidewalk.

Sincerely,

Vince Taylor