1. I was unaware that a public input process existed for this proposal. This may also be true of many of the EDH civic leaders who will run for city council or who will serve as appointees or employees when the city incorporates on July 1, 2006 (assuming the public vote in November is favorable).
   
   [That's a preface for the immediately following items.]
   
   
2. I recommend that no decision be made regarding this connector's terminus at El Dorado Hills until the new city government has formed and can evaluate the proposal.
   
   
3. I recommend that you initiate a public involvement process in El Dorado Hills to present the proposal and to take public comment.
   
   
4. Have you considered alternatives that bring this connector into El Dorado Hills through a routing other than White Rock Road?
   
   I'm very concerned with the White Rock routing because it would increase traffic flow in an area that already operates at LOS F during peak periods.The close proximity on Latrobe Road of US 50, Town Center, and White Rock is already problematical, and it will become a major traffic bottleneck as the Valley View development builds out and Business Park employment builds to its designated limit of about 10,000. An additional problem is that as US 50 load grows without addition of new mixed flow lines White Rock Road will become essentially an additional lane for US 50.
   
   Possible alternatives that come to mind easily are:
   (1) a new east-west road about a mile south of White Rock, running through the EDH Business Park
   (2) a new east-west road running south of the Business Park
   (3) an east-west connector south of US 50 with north/south freeway connections to US 50
   
   
5. The Connector is basically a good idea.
   
   I live in El Dorado Hills and work in the Bay Area 2 days per week. I've tried the White Rock/Grant Line routing to 99/4/I-5 (etc) and found substantial LOS F choke points in El Dorado Hills, Elk Grove, Livermore, and Castro Valley -- EDH and Livermore had the longest delays, although Elk Grove was close. I don't use theWhite Rock/Grant Line route because too much is 2-lane and is vulnerable to slow traffic and obstructions. With road improvements on this route I probably would use it routinely.
   
   If such a connector provides at least 2 lanes in each direction and reduces the LOS F delays in El Dorado Hills and Elk Grove I'll probably change my Bay Area commute route to use it.
   
   
6. I can't emphasize enough the traffic congestion issues produced by using White Rock. I've worked up an adjacency matrix and a connectivity matrix to describe the road network in and near El Dorado Hills, probably will never have spare time to research and assign impedances between nodes of the network, but both personal experience and the network modeling agree that the area between US 50 and White Rock on Latrobe Road is critical. This is an extremely sensitive location that can and does produce gridlock on weekdays, always in peak hours and sometimes outside of peak hours, even without the traffic loads that it will bear within a few years.
   
   
7. Is there a way to find mor information on this project?   The web pages for the policy committee seem to allude to a lot of documents that aren't presented on your web site.
   
   

  ____________________________
  Paul Raveling
  Paul.Raveling@sierrafoot.org
  Web site:  http://www.sierrafoot.org

  (916) 933-5826    Home and home office
  (916) 849-5826    Cell phone
     Usually Wednesdays and Thursdays:
  (650) 506-8393    Office at Oracle Headquarters