Dear Mr. Raveling,
Thank you for your comments on the Elk Grove-Rancho Cordova-El Dorado Connector Study. This project is currently in the very conceptual stages right now; we are a long ways from making any final decisions on roadway alignments or features. The Concept Plan is the result of coordinated efforts from citizens and planning/engineering staff from SACOG, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Folsom, Regional Transit, and Sacramento and El Dorado Counties. If El Dorado Hills incorporates, they too will be a key decision maker. The four conceptual alternatives included in the Concept Plan illustrate how a regional connector might be implemented in this corridor. However, this Concept Plan does not preclude the study of other reasonable alternatives, which is to say that even though no alternatives to White Rock Road in El Dorado Hills were shown other alternatives can be investigated.
Your concerns about White Rock Road are valid and are shared by many others in the region. The public involvement process as the Connector project progresses to the environmental analysis stage will be very extensive, and citizens will be given ample opportunity to provide input. I have added you to our notification list, and you will receive project updates and notices of public meetings. All of the meeting summaries and documents are posted on the Connector Project website: http://www.sacog.org/connector/index.cfm Please let me know if you need any further information.
Thank you,
Aimee Hagen, P.E.
Sacramento Area Council of Governments
1415 L Street, Suite 300
Sacramento, CA 95814
tel - (916)340-6211
fax - (916)321-9551
ahagen@sacog.org
Paul Raveling <paul.raveling@sierrafoot.org> 7/18/2005 1:08 AM >>>
SACOG,
While doing some online research to write an article about what tools El Dorado Hills city incorporation will provide for better ability to relieve traffic congestion I found your web page on this Connector Study and quickly reviewed the Policy Advisory Committee pages.. I have several questions and comments.
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.]
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.
I recommend that you initiate a public involvement process in El Dorado Hills to present the proposal and to take public comment.
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
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.
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.
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