Hwy. 299 revisited

Last week's action by Trinity County supervisors to drop the proposed construction of a West Connector roadway around Weaverville was a topic of discussion the next day when Caltrans District 2 staff presented the board with a draft update of the agency's 20-year concept plan for State Highway 299.

Trinity supervisors previously concurred with the draft long-range plan for the state highway last year when the document included not only construction of an Eastside Connector, but also a West Connector as a pending project to improve traffic flow through Weaverville.

The decision a week ago not to move forward with the West Connector has now been included in the draft Caltrans plan, a long-range planning document designed to evaluate Highway 299 operations and identify/prioritize potential improvements that will be needed along the route in the next 20 years.

The West Connector would have paralleled Highway 299 on the west side of Weaverville, providing a local road alternative to the state highway.

Caltrans System Planner Laura Rose noted the revised concept plan acknowledges the absence of a West Connector will mean other yet to be determined improvements to the state highway will be necessary to maintain Cal- trans' desired level of service by 2025.

Based on traffic and economic growth projections for Shasta, Trinity and Humboldt counties contained in the draft concept plan, Caltrans estimates that the level of service on Highway 299 through Weaverville will drop to "E" by 2015 — that's on a scale where "A" is free-flowing and "F" is gridlock. It was a "D" on the Caltrans scale in 2005 when the planning update was initiated and is projected to fall to "F" by 2025.

"It's anticipated that Caltrans will have to consider some type of operational change through Weaverville to bring it back to a more appropriate service level. There is no concept for that -- it is a yet to be determined type of improvement," Rose said, but added that the 20-year facility concept goes from a conventional two-lane highway to a possible four-lane highway without the West Connector.

Rose said the revised draft concept report "acknowledges new concepts will need to be considered. The West Connector may have postponed the need to do another project besides the East Connector."

Caltrans is seeking concurrence from the Trinity County Board of Supervisors on the revised concept plan "to acknowledge the change in direction and that there will be a need for an additional project should the Level of Service 'E' come about," Rose said.

Supervisors challenged some of the figures contained in the document.

Noting that the 2005 average daily traffic volumes through Weaverville were said to range between 3,400 and 12,200 vehicle trips a day, Roger Jaegel said, "it seems we ought to distinguish between winter and summer."

Rose said the document does address the seasonal issue and that "only in the summer will you experience this potential Level of Service 'E.' That is the summertime flow."

Caltrans District 2 Systems Planner Scott White said Caltrans has the data, but he noted that facilities have to be designed to accommodate peak flows. In the case of Highway 299 through Weaverville, the traffic volume is projected to increase by 2025 to a low of 7,500 and high of 18,600 vehicle trips per day.

Supervisor Howard Freeman noted that more than 50 percent of the traffic on Highway 299 in Weaverville is locally generated in part because everyone must drive on it to check their mail at the post office.

"We've discussed the possibility of home delivery or a satellite post office. Is Caltrans an appropriate agency to partner with us in requesting that change? Not every solution requires road construction," Freeman said.

White offered to look into it, but said "that would be a policy level decision above me."

County Administrative Officer Dero Forslund challenged the economic forecasts in the draft plan that show personal income levels growing from $259.2 million in 2000 to $872.7 million by 2030 which he said in no way compute to the per capita incomes of $23,216 rising to $29,618 in the same timeframe.

The document also shows population growth forecasts from 12,984 countywide in 2000 to 16,444 in 2030.

Forslund also requested the document address the possibility of installing fiber optic cable within the highway right-of-way over its entire length because aggressive efforts are under way to expand broadband service to the most rural areas of Northern California.

"The highway is the only connection we have in some places where there's no phone, no power. We just about have to use the highway to provide the infrastructure and I would like to see that in the document," Forslund said.

White said the discussion could be included.

Back on the forecasts, Supervisor Judy Pflueger said she believes Caltrans economic and traffic forecasts in general "are unrealistic and it's creating a lack of credibility in your reports. Continually overstating our population growth and personal income is eroding public support for some of your projects. Before the West Connector it was airport use and it makes it tougher to approve these projects. You really need to look at more realistic forecasts."

White said the economic forecasts are prepared in Sacramento and he couldn't vouch for their accuracy, but the issue could be explored further. He added he is very confident in the traffic forecast "because that was the only part we did and produced locally and it is consistent with other numbers the county has used."

Because of the issues raised and additional information requested, the board took no action to concur with the draft Caltrans plan last week and will be reviewing the document again at its June 2 meeting when the Caltrans representatives will be back.