Caltrans’ “197/199 Safe STAA Access Project” intends to realign and widen the roadway along U.S. Highway 199 and State Route 197, a winding country highway that connects Crescent City on the California redwood coast to Grants Pass in Oregon, in seven different locations in order to allow increased and unrestricted access for the largest and heaviest commercial trucks on the road, referred to as STAA trucks.
Touting safety and improved goods movement, this project would harm the Smith River, the “Crown Jewel” of the National Wild and Scenic River System, putting endangered salmon and steelhead at risk. This project also directly and indirectly threatens the old-growth redwood forests.