Caltrans I-40 response
Sanitized project summary · updated 2026-09-15
Project-prepared summary of agency correspondence and verified sent follow-ups, inspected through September 15, 2026. Quoted wording is verbatim; line breaks are joined. Personal details, signatures, email headers and account links are omitted. This is not an agency-published document or the full correspondence.
Request R054059-090426
Received by Caltrans: September 4, 2026
Latest Caltrans response: 2026-09-15, 11:31 a.m. Pacific
September 15, 11:31 a.m.: search clarification
“Our cameras are for the live monitoring of traffic only.”
Caltrans says its encroachment-permits staff handled the original search and found no camera permits or agreements. It describes cameras in its I-40 right-of-way as Caltrans-owned, used for live traffic monitoring and not recording.
This is Caltrans’s account, not a site-by-site inventory or a verified right-of-way boundary. No supporting records accompanied the reply. It does not identify equipment at the agriculture station or on nearby property.
Read the 11:31 a.m. reply summary
September 15: follow-ups sent
On September 15, a clarification was sent in the existing Caltrans case asking which offices and systems were searched for the wider I-40 request. A separate records request was sent to CDFA for the agriculture station. Caltrans replied at 11:31 a.m. See the separate station request for CDFA’s current status.
September 15, 8:49 a.m.: no records; contact CDFA
“There are no records responsive to your request.”
“Please contact CDFA for your request.”
Caltrans again reported no responsive records and directed the request to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). It says it worked on the station building but has no role in its maintenance or infrastructure after construction. The reply says this was confirmed with District 8’s Deputy District Director for Construction.
No records accompanied the reply. Its explanation concerns the station building; it does not explain how the wider I-40 permit, data-sharing and construction-document requests were searched. The reply does not establish who operates nearby cameras.
The further response arrived September 15, before the September 28 date previously given. No new response date was supplied.
September 10: earlier extension
“You will receive a further, more complete response no later than September 28, 2026.”
On September 10, Caltrans said it was gathering and reviewing the requested records. It cited the need to search for and collect records from field facilities or offices separate from the office handling the request, and invoked a response-time extension under Government Code section 7922.535.
No records accompanied the September 10 message. September 28 was the agency’s date for a further response, not a promise to deliver all records. That further response arrived September 15.
September 9: reopening promised
September 9, 2026, 1:09 p.m. Pacific
“I will reopen your request. I will let you know what I find.”
The reply promises reopening; a completed portal status change has not been verified. No records, search details or production estimate accompanied it.
September 9: initial determination
“There are no records responsive to your request.”
Caltrans repeated the four request categories and reported no responsive records. Its response included no records and did not describe the offices, systems, dates or project identifiers searched.
What the request covered
- Camera, CCTV, ALPR and vehicle-imaging records on or near I-40 within about 10 miles of the Arizona line, including the agricultural inspection station.
- Encroachment permits, licenses or agreements for federal or third-party cameras in that I-40 right-of-way.
- Records or agreements about sharing camera or ALPR data from that area.
- Camera and related infrastructure documents for the replacement project named in the original request. The request used the name “Needles Border Protection Station Replacement.”
The correspondence does not establish whether cameras exist, who operates them, whether permits were issued, or whether data is shared. The separate City of Needles and San Bernardino County Sheriff requests remain unresolved by this reply.
Clarification sent
After the clarification sent September 9 at 12:47 p.m. Pacific, Caltrans replied at 1:09 p.m. that it would reopen the request.
The follow-up asks Caltrans to clarify the search scope, identify offices and record systems consulted, and conduct a supplemental search if a category or likely records location was omitted. It also asks about custodian routing and any withheld records.
Await CDFA’s station records. The Caltrans reply does not explain which record systems or construction files were searched.