Elk Grove Connector

Elk Grove Connector

Position paper paper #07-04 of the El Dorado Hills Citizens Alliance
Approved by Citizens Alliance board of directors 2/10/2007
Text updated 9/17/2007

Summary

The proposed Elk Grove/Rancho Cordova/El Dorado Connector will be benefical to both El Dorado Hills and El Dorado County as a whole as an important link in the Sacramento Area network of regional roads and highways. The route planned initially by SACOG brings this value at a cost to El Dorado Hills, by routing all Connector traffic from the rest of El Dorado County through an area that already is becoming the focus of our maximum traffic loads.

Connector planning needs to be modified from the SACOG plan into a new plan to be created by the Connector JPA (Join Powers Authority). Our need is to distribute traffic through multiple feeders at the Connector's eastern terminus. At least one of these feeders should be a bypass, serving points east of EDH without routing that traffic through EDH's central surface streets.

This is the area centered on the intersection of White Rock Road and Latrobe Road. Important EDH-specific factors affecting the same part of our road network are buildout of the Business Park and of high density residential areas south of US 50. Traffic generated within EDH alone in this area will be on the order of several tens of thousands of round trips daily within one to two decades. Connector through traffic to and from the rest of El Dorado County could also be substantial as population of the area east of El Dorado Hills grows into the range of 150,000 to 200,000.

Need

It is important to recognize the long term results of Connector routing and to anticipate what this will mean in decades well past the usual planning horizons of 10, 20, or 30 years. As the Sacramento region develops use of the Connected between existing centers of population, commerce, and jobs will increase. More importantly, the Connecter will form a transportation backbone that will induce additional development to cluster along its course. In the second half of the 21st Century the Connector will need to carry a very much higher traffic load than it will experience within the next 20 to 30 years. Initial planning should anticipate the need to increase traffic capacity and ultimately to build a new freeway on Connector right of way.

The Connector can become an asset to our regional road network. If planned carefully in conjunction with new arterials and major collectors in the El Dorado Hills traffic network the Connector it can divert traffic away from the parts of the EDH road network that will be at greatest risk of traffic congestion. If planned without consideration of the EDH road network it can worsen our future congestion problems.

Integrated planning of the Connector and the EDH road network is critical to managing our future traffic burden.

Some possible alternatives and variations

Planning for the El Dorado Hills terminus is critical. The route planned by SACOG is appropriate, but its traffic level needs relief by distributing the Connector's eastern terminus among different routes. There are several possible ways to terminate the Connector in El Dorado Hills. Many of these can be used together, they need not necessarily be mutually exclusive alternatives.

The SACOG-planned route: White Rock Road to US 50 at the Silva Valley Interchange.
A north EDH and eastern Folsom end point: (1) Connection from White Rock Road to the north via an extension of Empire Ranch Road, providing access to US 50 and crossing 50 to connect with Iron Point and Saratoga; (2) Connection eastward on Saratoga to El Dorado Hills Blvd on the north side of US 50, bypassing the congested area at the EDH Blvd/Latrobe Road freeway interchange.
An El Dorado Hills bypass, joining the Connector to US 50 without use of EDH surface streets or US 50 within EDH. The main alternatives for a bypass are (1) Peripheral connections and (2) US 50 itself.
Distributed interconnections with the El Dorado Hills road network. For example, new EDH roads could fan out from a Connector junction with White Rock that in Folsom to route east/west traffic (1) roughly through the center of the Business Park (to/from Blackstone) and (2) past the southern end of the Business Park on a new arterial. A new north/south arterial on the west side of the business park would provide access to these feeder routes from different locations in the Business Park and adjacent residential areas.