THE UNION Articles on
Traffic -- December 2005
Hwy. 49 a deadly drive, Robyn Moormeister, December 31, 2005
'Zero tolerance' on Hwy. 49, Robyn Moormeister, December 21, 2005
D.C. politics about business as usual, Jeff Ackerman, December 29, 2005
County rebuffs funding fracas, Brittany Retherford, December 17, 2005
County needs to work harder for federal funds, Union Editorial Board, December 16, 2005
Money for roads not coming here, Brittany Retherford, December 15, 2005
Predictable comments, Pat Wynne, December 6, 2005
Right call on project, Grant Cattaneo, December 3, 2005
A few suggestions for sane traffic solutions, Charles Durrett, December 3, 2005
Meeting on traffic sends right signal, Union Editorial Board, December 1, 2005
11 die in 2005; police say rise in deaths due to surge in growth
Robyn Moormeister, robynm@theunion.com
December 31, 2005More people were killed this year on Highway 49 between Grass Valley and Auburn than the last two years combined, prompting local residents to demand better safety measures and the California Highway Patrol to step up enforcement.
Eleven people have died in 2005 as the result of accidents on Highway 49 between Grass Valley's Empire Street and the Auburn city limits - the latest being 57-year-old Julie Trathen, who died Friday morning from injuries sustained in a Dec. 19 collision.
On that same stretch of highway, six people were killed in 2003 and two died in 2004.
Law enforcement officials attribute the alarming upsurge to local growth, which has turned the stretch of highway south of Grass Valley into a main artery for Sacramento and Bay Area commuters.
"It's disheartening, how many fatalities we've had this year," said CHP Sgt. Mike Lawrence.
Many residents say widening the highway and adding cement barriers could save lives, but representatives for the California Department of Transportation say there's simply not enough funding available.
"The fatalities have gone up tremendously because of the increased volume of traffic and the number of people moving up here," said CHP Officer Jeff Pingree. "It gets busier every year."
Since the Dec. 19 fatal accident between Cameo and Combie roads - resulting in the death of Trathen and an 18-year-old Placer High School graduate - CHP officers have been relentlessly issuing traffic citations in the area he was killed.
Last Thursday, officers issued 22 citations in the span of two hours.
The fatal accidents - a majority of them head-on collisions- have typically been caused by a vehicle crossing the double yellow lines on the two-lane highway for a variety of reasons, such as passing other cars, avoiding deer or driver fatigue.
Proponents of center dividers say the cement barriers would greatly decrease the number of severe collisions and, therefore, the number of fatalities on Highway 49.
"There needs to be something in the middle of the street," said Lake of the Pines resident Deborah Jones.
Jones was involved in a south county head-on collision on Highway 49 at Clivus Drive on Dec. 19, 2003, when a 19-year-old driver fell asleep and hit her husband's truck. Her sternum was fractured, she had three herniated discs in her neck, and she suffered a major concussion.
Her husband Bruce, a former firefighter who was driving the truck, said his wife's injuries could have been prevented by a cement barrier. He added that the barriers would also prevent people from attempting to pass other cars across double-yellow lines.
"If there was a barrier in the center, people wouldn't even think about passing," Bruce Jones said.
Highway 37 in Solano County, formerly known as "Blood Alley" to area residents, is a prime example of how such cement barriers can save lives, said CHP Officer Greg Thys.
Several people died in head-on accidents on the narrow highway before barriers were installed there.
"It stopped head-ons," said Thys, who patrolled the highway before and after the barriers were in place.
Officials from the California Department of Transportation say the funding for cement barriers is not available, and they've already had to drop safety projects because of a tight budget. They suggest that widening the highway - instead dividing the highway - is the key to heightened safety.
"Ultimately the issue is capacity," said CalTrans Public Affairs Specialist Shelly Chernicki. "With the traffic volume, adding capacity alleviates the safety issues."
Three projects are currently in the works: Shoulder-widening at Lime Kiln Road, a traffic light and three new lanes at LaBarr Meadows Road, and an interchange spanning Wolf Creek, connecting with Highway 49 near Crestview Drive.
"These three projects have gotten priority," Chernicki said. "(CalTrans) was going to widen that area from Combie to south of Grass Valley, but we don't have the funding right now."
In the meantime, residents say they want something done about highway safety now.
"Peoples' lives are changed forever by these accidents," said Bruce Jones. "Three fatalities in the last two months qualify that road as extremely dangerous."
The Joneses have planned a community meeting to discuss feasible ways to quell the rapidly rising accident trend on Highway 49. Representatives from CalTrans and the CHP plan to attend. The meeting, which is open to the public, is set for 7 p.m., Jan. 16, at the Roy Peterson Community Center, 22490 East Hacienda Drive in Grass Valley.
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By the numbers: Fatalities on Highway 49 between Empire Street and Auburn city limits (Source: California Highway Patrol
2005 - 11
2004 - 2
2003 - 6
2002 - 4
2001 - 22005 fatalities between Empire Street and Auburn
1. Dec. 19, near Combie Road
Christopher E. Leighton, 18, of Auburn died at the scene of an accident between Combie and Cameo roads, and 57-year-old Julie Trathen of Orangevale died Dec. 30 from injuries sustained in the accident. According to the California Highway Patrol, Leighton was trying to pass two cars in front of him, when his car sideswiped an SUV and collided head-on with a pickup truck.
2. Dec. 2, Streeter Road
Will Reynolds, 19, of Roseville was found dead, trapped in his girlfriend's car in a drainage ditch off of Highway 49 and Streeter Road, just south of Combie and Wolf roads. According to the CHP, shortly before the crash, an off-duty Placer County Sheriff's deputy reported Reynolds was driving erratically.
3. Nov. 11, at Lime Kiln Road
Jayme Jones, 18, of Auburn died in crash when the car she was driving crossed over into the opposing lane of traffic, reportedly trying to avoid a deer, and collided with another car. Though other motorists stopped to offer life-saving measures, Jones died at the scene.
4. Aug. 21, at Combie Road
William R. Beach, 26, of Antelope was reportedly pushing his bicycle from the west side of the highway to the east when he was struck by a northbound vehicle. According to the driver of the car that struck Beach, the young man suddenly appeared in front of him and there was little he could do to avoid him.
5. July 23, at McKnight Way
Grass Valley couple Michele Desiano and her husband, Jess "Art" Baker were killed when their Cadillac Escalade crossed the double-yellow line on Highway 49 and struck a Toyota 4Runner driven by Michelle Montgomery, 42, who suffered several broken bones. Witnesses said the Escalade had been driving on the wrong side of the highway for 4-5 seconds prior to the collision.
6. May 13, at Joeger Road
Doris Brubaker of Lincoln was trying to turn from Joeger Road north onto the highway, when she reportedly pulled her Honda Accord out in front of a southbound 1999 Toyota Solara, driven by 21-year-old Adrianne Martin of Grass Valley. Brubaker was pronounced dead at the scene.
7. April 16, Round Valley Road
Arthur Robert Thomas, 60, a passenger in a northbound 2003 Ford pickup, driven by 58-year-old Grass Valley resident David Fleuti died when the car collided with a southbound 1983 Ford pickup driven by 73-year-old Oroville resident Paul Schmoyer. Reportedly, a group of deer ran across the highway and Schmoyer braked and swerved left across the double-yellow line into the path of Fleuti's truck.
8. Feb. 5, at Empire Street
George Keeler, 87, of Granite Bay, and his 86-year-old passenger, Laura Gleaves, of Auburn, were pronounced dead at the scene after they drove onto Highway 49 in the wrong direction and slammed into two oncoming vehicles between Empire Street and McKnight Way.
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To contact staff writer Robyn Moormesiter, e-mail robynm@theunion.com or call 477-4236.
Fatality leads to police crackdown
By Robyn Moormeister
Staff writer, robynm@theunion.com
December 21, 2005Following the third fatal accident in two months on the same stretch of Highway 49, the California Highway Patrol has adopted a "zero tolerance" policy for speeding and other unlawful driving.
"We're tired of seeing people die out there," California Highway Patrol Public Affairs Officer Earl Cummins said Tuesday. "We need to have more of a presence out there to reduce the amount of people getting hurt."
Placer High School graduate Christopher Leighton, 18, of Auburn, was the third person to die on Highway 49 between Lime Kiln and Streeter roads within the last two months.
According to CHP, Leighton was attempting to pass two vehicles Monday when his car crossed over double yellow lines near Combie Road, sideswiping a Chevy Tahoe and crashing head-on into a couple driving a Chevy pickup.
Spurred by the recent rash of serious accidents in that stretch of Highway 49, Cummins said CHP officers from Grass Valley and Auburn handed out 16 citations for speeding Tuesday morning in the same area Leighton was killed.
"It's zero tolerance now," Cummins said. "People will be cited with no verbal warnings for speeding, for following too close, for broken taillights - you name it."
He said the amount of speeding citations is indicative of a larger speeding problem in the area.
"Everyone who died (on Highway 49) in the last two months was young and was speeding or driving erratically," Cummins said.
On Nov. 11, Jayme Jones, 19, of Auburn, swerved to avoid a deer on southbound Highway 49 at Lime Kiln road and was killed when she hit a car in the opposing lane.
On Dec. 5, Will Reynolds, 19, of Roseville died when he drove his girlfriend's Camaro off the highway and into a drainage ditch near Streeter Road. Shortly before the crash, an off-duty Placer County Sheriff's deputy called the CHP to report Reynolds was driving erratically. Reynolds had also called his employer with his cell phone at approximately the same time to say he was going to be late for work.
"It's the same with this latest accident," Cummins said. "(Leighton) was in a hurry."
Larry and Julie Trathen of Orangevale, the couple inside the pickup truck with which Leighton's car collided, were severely injured. Julie Trathen was listed in critical condition Tuesday at UC Davis Medical Center, while Larry Trathen remained in serious condition at Sutter Roseville Hospital.
Leighton's passenger, 18-year-old Kyle Davis, was in serious condition Tuesday night at Sutter Roseville Hospital.
Six students at Placer High School who were friends with Leighton have sought grief counseling or asked to defer their final exams until they've dealt with the tragedy, said Placer High School Principal Dave Horsey.
Cummins said in order to avoid an accident or a citation on Highway 49, drivers must obey the 55 mph speed limit and follow the "safe rule of thumb," which is allowing one car length between cars for every 10 miles per hour.
In this case, the rule stipulates allowing five and a half car lengths between cars.
To contact staff writer Robyn Moormeister, e-mail robynm@theunion.com or call 477-4236.
Jeff Ackerman: D.C. politics about business as usual
By Jeff Ackerman
Publisher, jeffa@theunion.com
December 20, 2005A woman from Congressman John Doolittle's office yelled at my editor last week because she said we were being mean to her boss.
She essentially said that if we didn't start being nicer to him she wasn't going to talk to us anymore.
Kind of like Santa, who threatens to stuff your stocking with coal if you don't stop yelling at your brother.
My editor, fortunately, is much more diplomatic than I am. Had she threatened me with the same thing I would have reminded her that I have 500 gallons of ink in my warehouse with Doolittle's name on them and if she didn't want to talk to me I'd just have to make it up.
Unfortunately, I don't have to make up that fact that Doolittle last week voted against Sen. John McCain's anti-torture measure, which fortunately passed the House 308-122 in spite of him. The measure prohibits, "cruel and inhumane, or degrading treatment, or punishment, of anyone in the custody of the U.S. government." Perhaps Doolittle just wasn't in the Christmas spirit. Either that, or he sees nothing wrong with pulling a suspect's fingernails off until he tells you where he put the remote control.
Speaking of cruel and unusual punishment, Doolittle has been in Congress since 1991 (eight, two-year terms) because the seats are apparently lifetime appointments, thanks to the folks who draw boundaries to ensure politicians are elected along party lines. It seems the only way to lose your Congressional seat once you have one is to quit, get caught taking a bribe, or be photographed with a hooker.
And here you thought this was a democracy. I've known monarchs who didn't serve that long.
Before heading to Washington, Doolittle spent nine or so years in the state Senate, which means he has been a serving Nevada County more than half of his 55 years. Some of those years have actually been beneficial to Nevada County. I'll give him props on helping to finance this war on methamphetamines, for example.
This latest rift with one of Doolittle's mouthpieces ... I mean ... aides ... was a result of a giant misunderstanding. We wondered why Doolittle didn't give Nevada County more of that government pork he was handing out so we can build an interchange to address our traffic problems and were told that we would have gotten some if someone had just asked.
Turns out someone did ask, but not the right questions. "The county begged (for some funds)" said Nevada City Mayor Conley Weaver, who sits on the Nevada County Transportation Committee. "We said we'd do anything for Dorsey Drive."
The Dorsey Drive interchange project, designed to relieve a chunk of traffic, has been on the back burner since the first wagon train was stalled in that area during a blizzard and 16 miners froze to death.
Doolittle's aide said it doesn't hurt to hire a lobbyist to get these kinds of projects through. And here I thought politicians only listened to "The People." Silly goose that I am.
"The only opinion I have is, maybe the squeakiest wheel gets greased," said Weaver, talking about the need to be noticed. "Maybe our wheel wasn't squeaky enough."
Or, perhaps the wheel isn't the only thing that needs to get greased, which is where a good lobbyist comes in handy. Unfortunately, anymore grease and Washington slides into the Potomac.
It's certainly understandable that Doolittle's aide would be mad at the newspaper. Imagine sitting in your office working on a holiday speech on the need to torture suspected bad guys when the phone rings and it's some reporter, or editor, from The Union wanting to know about some stupid highway money. It's enough to make you want to drive a screwdriver into some guy named Ali's ears.
On top of that, you've got all those liberal press people wanting to know if your boss is also under investigation for his "close friendship" to former big-time lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under investigation for allegedly collecting more than $80 million from Indian casinos and spending it improperly.
"Any suggestion that representative Doolittle may have had some improper involvement in matters recently disclosed about Mr. Abramoff is based on irresponsible speculation by the media," the same Doolittle aide who yelled at my editor recently yelled at the Sacramento Bee.
Doolittle has raised and spent more than $5.5 million since he was elected to Congress, according to records. He has raised more than $324,000 in the last year, most of it coming from undisclosed individuals.
One of the reasons Doolittle might not really care about our Dorsey Drive problem is because he doesn't get a whole lot of money from this neck of the woods. According to one zip code ranking, the congressman has gotten almost three times more money ($80,000) from Fair Oaks than from Grass Valley ($30,000) sources in the past year. And Nevada City didn't even show up on the chart (if you can believe that), so it's no wonder Doolittle could care less what Mayor Weaver wants for Christmas.
The squeaky wheel may only get greased if there are a few zeroes attached to it.
As for our "beef" with Doolittle and his minions ... well ... an election year is fast approaching and it's really special to see how nice political people can get that time of year.
They're even more cheerful than they are at Christmas.
Jeff Ackerman is the publisher of The Union. His column appears on Tuesdays. Contact him at 477-4299, jeffa@theunion.com, or 464 Sutton Way, Grass Valley 95945.
- copy of letter to Rep. Doolittle includedLocal officials did apply for part of $65.9B
Brittany Retherford
December 17, 2005Laura Blackann, communications director for Rep. John Doolittle, said Friday she was not clear in explaining earlier this week why Nevada County did not receive any portion of Congress' most recent spending bill.
"They requested several projects, none of which would qualify," she said. "The projects were not eligible for the bill. Had they asked for a project that qualified, we would have done anything in our power to help them."
The bill, known in its official form as the "Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, Judiciary and District of Columbia Appropriations bill for the fiscal year 2006," allocated $65.9 billion for projects nationwide.
Doolittle (R-Rocklin) secured $3 million for eight projects throughout District 4. After a story published in Thursday's The Union reported that none of those funds fell within Nevada County borders, Blackann called the newspaper to say the story was incomplete and that "Nevada County didn't receive any money because they didn't ask for any."
After an editorial in Friday's The Union urged local officials to be more proactive in getting money, however, several Nevada County officials responded by saying Blackann's comments were not true.
"The county begged. We said we'll do anything for money for Dorsey Drive," said Nevada City's mayor, Conley Weaver, who is also on the Nevada County Transportation Commission.
Weaver said Nevada City, Grass Valley and Nevada County all passed resolutions asking Doolittle to seek federal funding for the Dorsey Drive project.
That project was also one of 11 mentioned in a Feb. 25 letter to Doolittle from the City of Grass Valley seeking such funds. That letter proved to be a success for one project - $50,000 was given to the police department for a canine unit program, under a different appropriations bill.
Blackann said there were 10 appropriations bills and one federal highway bill under which these requests could have fallen, but none qualified for the most recent one. She apologized for the confusion.
Dorsey Drive
Nevada County's mistake in its bid for federal funding may have been that it asked for too much money at once.
"They told us it was such a large project that it didn't fit, but we will take anything," Dan Landon, executive director of the Nevada County Transportation Commission, said Friday.
Blackann said "the Dorsey Drive project was submitted by the city for $11 million. It is such a large project it needed to be funded through the highway bill. (The most recent appropriations bill) doesn't fund projects that large."
Placer County asked for $5 million to go toward the $253 million Highway 65 Lincoln Bypass project, which would stretch the freeway around the city of Lincoln. And, so far this year, it has received $3 million in federal funding.
"Every year we ask for $5 million and we are always happy with whatever we get," said Sue Sholtiz, the administrative assistant for the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency.
This includes $2.3 million in the August federal transportation bill - the same bill that Blackann said the Dorsey Drive project would be better suited for - according to the Lincoln News Messenger. That project also received $700,000 in the most recent appropriations bill, for which Blackann said Dorsey Drive was too large.
Blackann said the Dorsey Drive project might be higher on the representative's priority list in 2006.
"The congressman is going to try for the Dorsey Drive project next year," she said.
Lobbyist an answer?
"The only opinion I have is, maybe the squeakiest wheel gets greased," said Weaver. "Maybe our wheel wasn't squeaky enough."
It also doesn't hurt to have a lobbyist, which Landon said he was told recently by Doolittle's staff.
"For the '07 appropriations process, the congressman's staff has encouraged us to seek help," he said, adding that he plans to alert his county and city officials to this important opportunity.
Sharon Atteberry, city administrator for the city of Oroville, which received $450,000 in the recent spending bill, said she had also been urged to hire a lobbyist by Doolittle's staff. She said she personally went to Doolittle's office in Roseville to ask for the money. She said she thought that probably helped.
"They encouraged us that a lobbyist is very important to any city or county government," she said. "We will consider that in the future."
The Placer County Transportation Authority has had a lobbyist for three years now, Sholtiz said.
Blackann didn't have any specific tips on the best way to funding requests to be heard, but she did say that "in January, one of our appropriations staffers is going to meet with the county and talk about some practical ways that that can improve the likelihood of (receiving) funding."
She said that county staff members requested the meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.
Rep. John Doolittle’s office said Friday that Nevada County has received federal funding in 2006:
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Projects funded by the Federal Highway Bill:
• $2.8 million for the “Mousehole project,” the widening of Highway 89 in Truckee
• $777,747 to help develop a Gold Country Stage Transit transfer center in downtown Grass Valley
*
• $71.6 million for I-80 corridor improvements
Projects funded by various Appropriations Bills:
— From the Science, Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill
• $100,000 for Nevada County Mobile Data Computer System
• $50,000 for the City of Grass Valley Police Department K-9 Unit
• $1.5 million for California Methamphetamine Strategy, a state-wide program for which Nevada County is eligible.
— From the Energy and Water Appropriations bill
• $5 million for Renewable Energy Production Incentive Program, a nationwide initiative for which the Truckee Donner Public Utilities District is eligible.802-KB pdf download: Nevada County Supervisiors' letter to Rep. Doolittle, Feb. 25, 2005
Source: Laura Blackann, communications director for Congressman John Doolittle.
To contact staff writer Brittany Retherford, e-mail brittanyr@theunion.com or call 477-4247.
Our View: County needs to work harder for federal funds
The Union Editorial Board
December 16, 2005The office of Rep. John Doolittle explained Thursday why Nevada County received zero funding from a $65.9 billion appropriations bill that pumped a total of $3 milllion into his vast 4th Congressional District.
Communications Director Laura Blackann said there were no requests from Nevada County and therefore no knowledge of the area's specific needs. If a request had been made, she said, the congressman would have reviewed it and sent it with comments to the House Appropriations Committee.
In Rep. Doolittle's district, $1 million was approved for a bus station in Placerville, $700,000 for the Highway 65 bypass near Lincoln, $400,000 for a food bank in Sacramento, $350,000 for a bus transfer station in Oroville, $300,000 to widen Sierra College Boulevard in Rocklin, $200,000 to renovate Gold Bug Park in Placerville, $100,000 for the Vega Center in Oroville, and $80,000 for a youth center in Colfax.
While these appropriations were only a small part of the $65.9 billion bill, it's a shame that none of it came back to Nevada County. The taxpayers of this area have certainly contributed more than their fair share to that spending bill. Yet none of the money will benefit our communities.
But the message from the congressman's office is clear. If you don't make a request for the money, you won't get any.
It seems that we need to take the initiative if we want to become eligible for this type of federal funding. The congressman relies on his constituents to bring these requests to his attention and this area should not disappoint him in 2006.
Money for roads not coming here
Neighboring counties reap $3M benefit
By Brittany Retherford
December 15, 2005Congressman John Doolittle (R-Rocklin) announced Wednesday he had secured $3 million for transportation projects throughout his district, which encompasses western Nevada County.
None of this money will go for improvements within the county's borders, however. Some of the projects to be funded include $700,000 to continue work on the Highway 65 Lincoln Bypass, $200,000 in renovations at Placerville's Gold Bug Park, and $1 million to begin construction of a new bus station in Placerville. The money was part of a $65.9 billion appropriations bill for fiscal year 2006 that sets aside money for the country's highways, airports, housing needs, anti-drug efforts, and public transportation.
In a Nov. 15 letter to Doolittle, the Nevada County Board of Supervisors requested $9.5 million from a 2007 appropriations bill for the Dorsey Drive interchange project.
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To contact staff writer Brittany Retherford, e-mail brittanyr@theunion.com or call 477-4247.
Road to fundingNevada County's neighboring counties were much luckier in securing money from the most recent spending bill passed by Congress. These projects include:
• $700,000 to continue work on the Highway 65 Lincoln Bypass
• $300,000 to widen the Sierra College Boulevard
• $200,000 for renovations at Placerville's Gold Bug Park
• $1 million to begin construction on a new Placerville bus station
• $350,000 to build a bus transfer center on Spencer Avenue in Oroville
• $100,000 to renovate the Vega Center in Oroville
• $80,000 to expand Colfax Youth Center facilities
• $400,000 to begin work on a new facility for the Sacramento Food Bank
Pat Wynne
December 6, 2005I attended the Grass Valley traffic workshop and read The Union coverage of the meeting. It was disturbing to hear what Keoni Allen said that night. He is the president of the Nevada County Contractors Association and the largest builder/developer of commercial projects in Grass Valley, so I guess his comments were predictable.
NCCA President Allen stated we don’t have a traffic problem in Grass Valley, that we only have a problem one hour each day and the other 23 hours are just fine. I guess he must stay in his house for the other 23 hours each day or be talking about some other Grass Valley.
Mr. Allen also said we need to “lower our expectations” about traffic congestion. So let’s say your child came home with a report card full of Ds. I’m sure any of us would be disturbed about this. If your child replied, “What’s the big deal, you just need to lower your expectations of me” would you agree? I think not.
It’s no surprise that a developer and NCCA president wants us to “lower our expectations” about traffic. Well I’m not going to and I hope our community doesn’t either.
Pat Wynne, Grass Valley
By Grant Cattaneo
December 3, 2005A big thank you to the three Grass Valley City Council Members that voted to uphold their Planning Commission's decision to deny the 122-unit Berg Heights development. This project was too big for that location.
The Planning Commission voted 4-1 to deny the project at the 122-unit size. The developer was asked to reduce the number of units for a number of reasons, not just traffic impacts. The developer refused to lower the number of units and demanded the Planning Commission deny his 122-unit proposal so he could appeal it to the City Council.
At the City Council meeting, the mayor asked the applicant again if they would lower the number of units. The developer responded no, that 122 was the only number. The applicant again refused to lower the number of units.
The developer also refused to answer the simple question about the price range of the units. The Planning Commission asked this question over and over, with no response from the developer. The mayor asked the same question.
To state this was about traffic vs. affordable housing or that some members of the City Council don't support affordable housing is just wrong and misrepresents the facts.
Grant Cattaneo, Grass Valley and representing CCAT
Other Voices: A few suggestions for sane traffic solutions
By Charles Durrett
December 3, 2005
I want to applaud the Grass Valley City Council for holding the major traffic pow-wow at city hall on Tuesday night. It's an important first step to best assuring the sane future to Grass Valley's traffic woes, real and perceived.
The traffic presentations by the six engineers and two police officers, however, focused on improving specific intersections in Grass Valley similar to how Richardson and East Main was recently fixed (but appears to need to be fixed again).
That's all well and good, but I strongly believe that fixing traffic takes a much broader view. So, I'm proposing a five-step program for traffic mitigation in Grass Valley
1. Create a vision that explains how regional planning concepts like connectivity will play a role in getting cars around without the reliance on large arteries that become increasingly like boulevards and highways and less like roads and streets. They become conducive only to strip commercial development and not mixed use because no one wants to live on them, much less walk or bike on them or wait for a bus on them.
An example of connectivity can be found in San Francisco. I worked there for two years and had to drive to five or six different neighborhoods on some days to visit construction projects. I never had any problem getting around because there were so many choices or routes. We have fewer and fewer connections in the Grass Valley area. The highway took away about two dozen, the new Idaho-Maryland/Brunswick "improvement" eliminated one. This and a dozen other broad perspectives have to play a major role. Be in the satellite at 50,000 feet and ask yourself, "Now, why are those ants down there so constipated?"
2. Designate land uses conducive to quality of life: walking, biking, mixed use, relationships. I practiced in Denmark for two years and while any major road project had to consider air quality and water quality, it also had to have an anthropologist consider how a highway through town would, for example, affect how many times a grandmother visited a granddaughter. Please remember it's the quality of the relationship that we have with each other that stitches us together as a society.
This line item speaks to the question of "Why wasn't there someone on the panel giving a presentation who focused on the quality of the experience of any new road improvement?" Because it seems that every road project takes away from the experience of just being on the street, and therefore necessitates the need for more roads to get us out of town to a place with fewer turning lanes, fewer signals. If we don't focus on the quality of the experience and just listen to the engineers, all of them very well-intended, we will look very much like Auburn or worse, Roseville. Maybe they should have had an architect who talks about the quality of the streets.
As an example, it used to be that you didn't want to walk from downtown (Mill and East Main) along East Main further than Old California Restaurant. Now you don't walk further than the post office because of the quality of the experience and because it was more safe before when the old intersection was more constricted and therefore successfully provided traffic calming. There is plenty of research that shows that the distance that people will walk is completely a function of the quality of experience.
3. Mass transit. When do we start planning for it? When gas is $4, $5 or $8 a gallon as it is in Britain? If it's not a priority, opportunities will be lost one right after another. I was at a Katrina fundraiser dinner recently at the Miners Foundry sitting at a table of eight. I floated the question Đ you know, just to make conversation Đ "So, when are we going to address public transit in the Foothill regions?" There was a long pause and than a huge burst of laughter. People laughed for 20 minutes - tears were coming to their eyes, they rocked back and forth in their chairs. They slapped their knees and said, "Public transit in the Foothills?
4. All new projects, and especially the four pending SDAs (growth in general), should be evaluated based on their ability to address getting people around and minimally relying on the auto. Again I go back to my experience in Demark where any new project had to be along a bus or rail line, or one had to be created. And the quality of the street experience to the bus or train from home had to be conducive to making that walk.
The biggest supporters for public transportation in Denmark are serious drivers. This also has broad social justice ramifications. In our little county, if you don't have a new car, you're a second-class citizen. If you don't have a car at all, you're a third-class citizen. Elderly citizens who can't drive become stuck, and we see our young citizens hitchhiking, or even worse, driving (and causing a disproportionate amount of accidents).5. Yes, fix individual intersections, but always with points 1 through 4 in mind. Some intersections need to be fixed. McKnight and LaBarr is just comical - you can't help from cracking up until you hit someone. It's bumper cars. But, otherwise, don't waste money that will take you further toward a Los Angeles, via Roseville, via Auburn solution. Don't spend money to make the quality of life worse.
In conclusion, put lots of great photos into a document called Grass Valley's Sane Traffic Future discussing the streets and growth patterns that are more indigenous to the area. Make it extremely readable. Traffic is one of those things that can be technical engineering or something that we all relate to after all. Autos are part of our culture. Most of us do it, and most are interested in it. If everyone is aware of the issues, large and small, then I think that there will be less of a tendency to fix (screw up) this intersection or that intersection for $10 million here and $10 million there. If we put it into perspective for the public, there will be less knee-jerk symptomatic approaches, people will appreciate what we have, feel some confidence that our leaders have the big picture in mind and become part of a broader dialogue about the place we want and how to achieve it and how to preserve it. Go ahead - have a vision - it's the best way to gt to where you want to go.
Charles Durrett is an architect and planner who with his wife, Kathryn McCamant, are the principals of McCamant and Durrett Architects in Nevada City. They are internationally known for their designs of cohousing communities.
Our View: Meeting on traffic sends right signal
The Union Editorial Board
December 1, 2005The Grass Valley City Council took a step in the right direction by holding a town hall meeting on Tuesday night about our traffic headaches.
The three-hour session was essentially an open forum where residents could talk about concerns and solutions to traffic problems. One of the themes that emerged was the need to create a more pedistrian-family community.
Developers, builders and others agreed that we need to start looking at some other ways to get around besides jumping into our vehicles.
It's been our utter dependence or even co-dependence on vehicles that has led to our various traffic chokepoints around town. In many cases, you have to drive to get where you want to go. So some alternatives are badly needed.
Those who spoke Tuesday night said the community needs to consider creating more bicycle trails as well as making the walking experience safer and more enjoyable. Another speaker talked about creating a program to encourage more use of the Gold Country Stage, our local bus service.
We've also reached the point where we need to consider new options to traffic concerns. The millions of dollars that it would take to make many of our needed street improvements are simply not there. The state's well-documented budget woes have become a major obstacle to finding the money to fix our problems.
Therefore, our immediate traffic solutions are going to have to come from the community. A commitment to alternative styles of transportation is needed or the problems we complain about will not go away.
The City Council sent a signal last night that it's willing to reach out to the community at large to solve these traffic headaches. Now that the door is open, let's continue in a direction that will ease the burden on our streets.