The El Dorado Hills Citizens Alliance strongly supports construction of the Empire Ranch Road interchange with US 50, as well as additional project which will depend on this interchange. This is very important to traffic flow in the road network which serves both Folsom and El Dorado Hills in the area on both sides of the county line.


The DEIR traffic analysis is flawed (reasons cited below).   However, the flaws make this project appear environmentally weaker than its actual value in terms of traffic relief to the road network within a radius of several miles of the project site.  Some of the flaws involve obsolete data for El Dorado Hills. Others involve lack of projections for growth in both development and the road system in coming years within the Folsom Sphere Of Influence area south of US 50.

Lack of such consideration can be understood on the basis of the Empire Ranch interchange being the first such development to go into environmental review, its EIR cannot rely on plans which have not yet been adopted. Nevertheless, it is important to understand the future role of this interchange in the context of other clearly probable development.

There are several very significant factors that the DEIR's traffic analysis REALLY misstates or ignores:

1.  The DEIR very substantially understates EDH population. Here's a nutshell summary from one graphic in the DEIR



No population statistics for El Dorado Hills are this low, regardless of source or area defined to represent EDH -- additional notes are available on the EDH Citizens Alliance web site at http://www.edhca.net/population.php. The area defined by the El Dorado Hills Fire District is already near 43,000 population. The Folsom/EDH population center is already over 100,000 population, EDH and Cameron Park combined are almost 60,000.

Also, almost all east/west traffic from the rest of the county passes through EDH. The total population of El Dorado County is now about 180,000 and through traffic includes substantial US 50 travel to Lake Tahoe and beyond.  Here's an abbreviated summary:

	Population
	El Dorado Hills according to DEIR	El Dorado Hills, actual from Fire District statistics
Year 2000	13,720	23,898
Year 2005	----	39,636
Year 2015		about 60,000 (estimated)
Year 2025	40,170	60,000 to 80,000 (estimated range)

The EDH population is already larger than the number that the traffic study assumes it will reach in 2025.

Another way to state this is that in January, 2006, the EDH population passed the level that the traffic study anticipated for year 2025. The Citizens Alliance estimates that today, January 15, 2007, the EDH population is 42,737.

2.  El Dorado Hills needs a southern extension of Empire Ranch Road to serve two areas:  The 885-acre Business Park and population in the area now being developed south of US 50. The largest single development is Blackstone, not yet at first occupancy but last reported to be planned for 2,840 housing units. This plus housing development in the Carson Creek and Euer Ranch areas needs arterial service to US 50 to the west of Latrobe Road. Empire Ranch is the most appropriate point of connection to US 50.

3.  The 885-acre EDH Business Park is building out to an artificially capped employment ceiling of 10,000. Latrobe Road, including the major intersections of White Rock Road and Town Center Drive, is not planned to have adequate capacity to serve the traffic needs of the Business Park. It is imperative for Business Park access to build the Empire Ranch interchange and connecting arterials on the south side of US 50. The Citizens Alliance is not aware that any traffic studies for such a connection exist, but we believe it likely that Business Park traffic alone will generate demand on the Empire Ranch Road interchange for at least 3,000 vehicles per hour in afternoon peak periods.

4. El Dorado Hills needs a connection from the future El Dorado-Rancho Cordova-Elk Grove Connector to interconnect with US 50 and to cross it at this point. Crossing traffic needs to connect with three arterials north of US 50:  Saratoga Way to the east, Empire Ranch Road to the north, and Iron Point Road to the west. The Saratoga and Empire Ranch connections are essential as a route for El Dorado Hills traffic from the north side of US 50. The US 50 is absolutely essential to allow through traffic between the connector and the rest of El Dorado County to bypass surface streets in El Dorado Hills.

5.  Folsom is actively planning very substantial development in its Sphere of Influence south of US 50 and adjacent to El Dorado Hills. The Empire Ranch Road interchange DEIR is predicated on having no such development in the Folsom SOI and no access to the EDH areas noted above. It is clear that this will not be the case.


A major requirement in El Dorado Hills is to avoid gridlock in an area centered on the intersection of Latrobe Road and White Rock Road. To do this, the most important road network links are between White Rock Road (or the future Connector) and US 50 at the Empire Ranch Road interchange.

The need for an Empire Ranch Road interchange is much higher than is reported in the DEIR's traffic study. The largest risk that follows from the traffic study's errors is that planning for the interchange may be underscoped. This will need to be a high-capacity interchange. If the interchange is built initially with a low capacity design it is important that its design be planned to permit future expansion without major reengineering.